Democracies must rework multilateral strategies to counter China’s hegemonic rise amid geopolitical changes wrought by US President Donald Trump, academics and former foreign officials said yesterday at the Ketagalan Forum: 2025 Indo-Pacific Security Dialogue in Taipei.
Former Canadian minister of national defense Jason Kenney said that former prime minister Justin Trudeau had allowed close ties with Beijing elites to dictate the Canadian government’s China policy, but Ottawa is becoming alert to the threat posed by Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) expansionist agenda on Taiwan, Japan and the Philippines.
Trump’s aggressive trade policies have undermined the global consensus that China would serve as the cornerstone of international trade, and made Canada re-examine Beijing’s unfair trade practices, including currency manipulation and industrial espionage, Kenney said.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
China’s meddling in Canadian internal affairs, attempts to establish a de facto police force on Canadian soil, tit-for-tat arrests of Canadian nationals for the extradition of Huawei Technologies chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou (孟晚舟) and its involvement in the fentanyl trade further soured public perception of China, he said.
Canada is deepening its cooperation with Taiwan in security and technology, transiting warships and submarines through the Taiwan Strait, and increasing defense spending to a planned 5 percent of GDP from 1.3 percent, he said.
Canada’s natural resources can lessen the world’s dependence on China for critical mineral and energy exports, he said.
Trump’s levying of 35 percent tariffs and threats of annexing Canada have underscored the importance of national defense and security matters to Canadians, Kenney said.
Although Taiwan shares commonalities in culture, history and language with China, the nation should hold on to its dignity and self-identity, safeguard democracy and bolster its national defense, he said.
Japanese academic Tomohiko Taniguchi, formerly an adviser to former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, said the late Abe had planned to visit Taiwan shortly before his assassination to emphasize the importance of Taiwan-Japan cooperation in regional security.
His belief that “a Taiwan contingency is a Japan contingency” stemmed from the understanding that US military bases would lose all strategic value should China take over Taiwan, he said.
A war against Taiwan would embroil the US and Japan, regardless of their wishes and intentions, he said.
The Australian navy’s adoption of Japanese warships, naval collaboration between India and the Philippines, and the British carrier HMS Prince of Wales’ imminent visit to Japan are evidence of the growing recognition that the Indo-Pacific region must band together to counter China, Taniguchi said.
The world’s democracies are telling Xi that he would pay dearly for realizing his “Chinese Dream,” he added.
Asian nations should accept the reality that there would no return to a pre-Trump world order, said Chilamkuri Raja Mohan, a columnist at Foreign Policy and visiting professor at the National University of Singapore’s Institute of South Asian Studies.
Indo-Pacific nations must take joint action to counter the narrative that they have been taking advantage of the US in security matters, and set conditions to encourage continued US engagement in the region, he said.
US participation and the development of new security frameworks would be indispensable for maintaining the balance of power in Asia, he said.
Political developments in the US would not change the inherent conflict of interest between Washington and Beijing, or that between China and nations on its periphery, he said.
Indo-Pacific nations must accept that China’s rising military power would not dissipate naturally and the necessity of developing an asymmetric strategy to counter China’s advantages, he said.
The US political system is not designed for forging consensus, but for the coexistence of distinct factions, he said, adding that regional governments must understand and establish relations with all US politicians to maintain their long-term strategic interests.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,
RSS