On April 13, 2023, in an exclusive interview with journalist of the Canadian media “Global News”, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu explained that China had been using intimidation and military threats against Taiwan for years. This time China demonstrated its threat by using President Tsai Ing-wen’s meeting with US House Speaker Kevin McCarthy as an excuse. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA Taiwan) strongly condemned China’s actions.
This interview was published on television broadcasts and on the official Global News website in a report entitled “Taiwanese Foreign Minister: Taiwan is Preparing for Chinese Military Attacks”.
Regarding the media reports which stated that the meeting between President Tsai Ing-wen and US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy was an act of provocation, Foreign Minister Joseph Wu explained that Taiwan is a democratic society. Therefore, China has no right to interfere with who Taiwan maintains friendships with. What’s more, China has no right to accuse Taiwan’s actions to strengthen friendship with other countries as an act of provocation.
On the other hand, China’s actions that ignore the principles of the UN Charter to resolve conflicts peacefully, and use military force to intimidate Taiwan are true acts of provocation.
Foreign Minister Joseph Wu explained that World War II occurred because a country had the ambition to make another country’s territory its own. Currently, China also arbitrarily claims that Taiwan, the Taiwan Strait, the East Sea and the South Sea belong to China. China’s ambitious expansion of power does not only stop at the First Island Chain, but also extends to the Pacific Ocean and the Indian Ocean, posing a major threat to the international community. This is a truly provocative and dangerous act.
Foreign Minister Joseph Wu emphasized that Taiwan had learned lessons from the Russia-Ukraine war. In addition to being determined to defend itself, advancing the asymmetric warfare strategy, and carrying out military reforms, Taiwan is also actively seeking support from the international community to deal with a possible Chinese attack. Like the story in the Bible about David fighting Goliath, in the end democracy will win, Taiwan will win.
Taiwan and Canada both uphold the values of democracy and freedom, protect human rights, and rule of law, and respect the rules-based international order.
Last year the Government of Canada announced the Indo-Pacific Strategy for the first time, and expressed concern for peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.
China is highly adept at exploiting disinformation and Chinese migrating abroad to interfere in elections in other countries. Taiwan has experienced repeated Chinese cyberattacks and disinformation, and has experience dealing with them. Taiwan is willing to share experiences with Canada in non-traditional security fields as mentioned above to eradicate Chinese interference.
Source : Taiwan Today