Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) in an interview with a Norwegian media outlet called on the international community to support Taiwan as it steps up efforts to counter growing threats from China.
In the interview broadcast by Norwegian Broadcasting Corp on Wednesday, Hsiao said that Taiwan is facing intensifying military action and hybrid threats from China, mentioning in particular “disinformation, psychological warfare, political warfare and economic coercion.”
Describing Taiwan’s security as critical to the stability of the Indo-Pacific region, and key to global economic and technological development, the vice president called for the international community’s support for Taiwan’s democracy.
Photo courtesy of the Presidential Office via CNA
“No country is too small to deserve freedom,” Hsiao said, adding that Taiwan and Norway could expand cooperation in civil society, particularly in areas such as media literacy and democratic resilience.
Hsiao said that the government remains committed to maintaining the “status quo” in the Taiwan Strait, but is striving to strengthen its defense capabilities and enhance societal resilience against a range of security challenges.
One of the challenges to be addressed urgently is the severing of undersea cables, a threat not unique to Taiwan, but also increasingly seen in Europe, she said.
She added that the government must improve the resilience of Taiwan’s telecommunications networks, while stockpiling essential supplies and enhancing energy security.
“We have to look into more new and emerging technology ... and we need to better leverage some of Taiwan’s private-sector capabilities in supporting our society’s broader resilience,” Hsiao said.
“Everything we are doing is to prevent conflict,” she said, adding that peace must be achieved through strength.
An exhibition demonstrating the rejuvenation of the indigenous Kuskus Village in Pingtung County’s Mudan Township (牡丹) opened at the Forestry and Nature Conservation Agency’s conservation station in Taipei on Thursday. Agency Director-General Lin Hwa-ching (林華慶) said they have been promoting the use and development of forestry resources to local indigenous residents for eight years to drive regional revitalization. While modern conservation approaches mostly stem from western scientific research, eco-friendly knowledge and skills passed down through generations of indigenous people, who have lived in Taiwan for centuries, could be more suitable for the environment, he said. The agency’s Pingtung branch Director-General Yang Jui-fen (楊瑞芬)
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Academics have expressed mixed views on President William Lai’s (賴清德) nomination of High Prosecutors’ Office Chief Prosecutor Tsai Chiu-ming (蔡秋明) as a Constitutional Court justice and the head of the nation’s top judicial body. While prosecutors have served as justices at the Constitutional Court over the years, including Judy Ju (朱富美), an incumbent, the appointment of a prosecutor as president of the Judicial Yuan, which presides over the Constitutional Court, would be unprecedented. Retired law professor Lin Teng-yao (林騰鷂) said that Tsai’s nomination was an “abuse” of power by Lai, and called on the legislature, in which the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)
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