Former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday told a US audience of China's "sustained" pressure in the form of activities such as military patrols that stop short of open conflict but are aimed at altering the security environment.
Tsai is making her first trip to the US since leaving office two years ago, for a speech at a defense forum at Stanford University. Washington is Taipei's most important international backer, despite a lack of formal diplomatic ties.
Taiwan has to deal with a "particularly immediate" security challenge, Tsai said, according to a transcript of the speech provided by her office.
Photo courtesy of former president Tsai Ing-wen’s office via CNA
"We face daily cyberattacks, cognitive warfare, information manipulation, economic coercion and attempts to compromise our critical infrastructure," Tsai said. "Chinese military aircraft and vessels also operate around Taiwan on a regular basis, while coast guard and other activities have become increasingly common around our waters.”
Such "gray zone" activity is intended to impose costs, test Taiwan's responses and gradually alter the security environment around Taiwan, while avoiding the consequences of an open confrontation, she added.
"We have to respond to sustained pressure in ways that preserve our own confidence and freedom of action, while continuing to strengthen our capacity to defend ourselves should deterrence fail," Tsai said.
The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Its embassy in Washington this week said that it "firmly opposes official interactions of any form between China's Taiwan region and the US."
China claims Taiwan as its own and has never renounced the use of force to annex it.
Tsai said at Stanford that given Taiwan is deeply integrated in the global technology and manufacturing networks, a serious disruption in the Taiwan Strait would be felt throughout the Indo-Pacific and beyond.
"Deeper cooperation with Taiwan therefore strengthens not only Taiwan's own security, but also the stability of the Indo-Pacific and the resilience of the wider democratic community," she added.
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