Taiwan's FM pledges continuing support for Ukraine at global lawmakers' summit
ROC Central News Agency
09/03/2023 11:23 AM
Taipei, Sept. 3 (CNA) Taiwan's Foreign Minister Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) on Saturday pledged to continue the government's support for Ukraine as it continues to fight Russian troops following Russia's invasion in February 2022, while expressing gratitude for the global backing of Taiwan which he said was standing on the frontline of Chinese military coercion.
Speaking virtually in a pre-recorded speech played during a meeting of lawmakers from 25 countries at the annual summit of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) in Prague, Wu said the world is now "living in the most volatile era since the end of the Cold War."
"The rules-based international order is facing significant challenges brought about by the alliance of the two giant authoritarian powers," he noted, referring to Russia and the People's Republic of China (PRC).
The minister warned that authoritarianism would continue to expand unless it is stopped, pointing to the one and a half year-long Russian invasion of Ukraine and the PRC's human rights violations in Tibet, Xinjiang and Hong Kong.
"If we don't stop authoritarian China before it does anything to Taiwan, it will be ready to dominate the East and South China Sea and endanger Japan and the Philippines and beyond," he said.
Wu pledged that Taiwan's government will continue to support Ukraine "because it is the right thing to do."
"To us, no country, no matter how powerful it may be, has any right to use force against another and cause the disruptions and atrocities we have witnessed," he noted.
Wu also noted that with the Russian invasion, more countries are now aware that any major war has global impacts, as the Russia-Ukraine war has led to energy shortages, a food crisis and inflation.
"By the same token, any war involving Taiwan, a semiconductor hub located along (a) major global trade route, will have even more serious consequences," he said.
That is why more international leaders are stressing the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, which is indispensable to global security and prosperity, according to Wu.
Wu said that Taiwan will continue to invest in its self-defense, especially its asymmetrical warfare capabilities in the face of rising military coercion from the other side of the strait.
"We will work hand in hand with fellow democracies to protect the rules-based international orders and the values we hold dear in our hearts, for we are stronger together," he concluded.
The minister made the remarks during the closing ceremony of IPAC's third annual summit in the Czech Republic's capital city.
IPAC was founded on June 4, 2020, the 31st anniversary of the violent suppression in Beijing's Tiananmen Square of pro-democracy protests. It describes itself as "the largest cross-party legislative network actively working towards coordinated democratic policies on China."
According to IPAC, 50 legislators from 25 countries were meeting in Prague for the two-day event held in the Czech Chamber of Deputies and Senate.
The main focuses of this year's summit were policy workshops around six thematic areas related to China -- Taiwan, renewable dependency, transnational repression, Hong Kong, China's Belt and Road initiative, and human rights, it said.
This year, three new member countries are joining the summit for the first time, namely, the Philippines, Kenya, and Paraguay.
(By Joseph Yeh)
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