TAIWAN'S DIPLOMATIC ties with all of its allies are solid, Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said amid fears Beijing could try to snatch away more of Taiwan's allies in retaliation for United States House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's recent visit.
"Our relations with all 14 diplomatic allies
have remained stable," Wu said at a press event in Taipei, when asked if
China was trying to lure Taiwan's allies to change their loyalties in response
to the Pelosi visit, the first by a U.S. House speaker to Taiwan in 25 years.
Wu indicated that some senior officials and heads
of state from these diplomatic allies are planning to visit Taiwan in the near
future to show their support amid rising cross-Taiwan Strait tensions.
He did not give further details, citing only the
example of St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves,
who arrived in Taiwan last week for a six-day-visit. Gonsalves has repeatedly
said during his visit that he is here to show solidarity with Taiwan while
urging Beijing to stop its military drills.
China responded to the Pelosi visit by holding
live-fire military drills in six maritime areas around Taiwan and suspending
imports of some Taiwanese foods and agricultural produce.
There have also been rumblings that it might try to
steal away some of Taiwan's few remaining diplomatic allies.
Taiwan has already lost eight diplomatic allies -
Burkina Faso, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Kiribati, Nicaragua, Panama,
Sao Tome and Principe, and the Solomon Islands - to China since May 2016, when
President Tsai Ing-wen came to office.
Beijing has reacted so strongly because it objects
to other countries treating Taiwan as a nation, including by sending high
ranking officials to visit, and believes the U.S. is violating its commitments
to the "one China" policy and fueling Taiwan independence efforts.
Wu said that Pelosi's visit was simply an excuse to
launch large-scale military drills around Taiwan that had already been planned.
The PLA's retaliatory missile launches, drone
deployments, cyberattacks, and disinformation campaign took a relatively long
time to prepare, meaning Beijing has always been ready to launch a similar
attack on Taiwan whether Pelosi visited or not, Wu argued. He believed the
moves will only backfire and lead to more senior officials from allies and
like-minded countries visiting Taiwan soon.
Wu said China's decision to carry out military
exercises in areas surrounding Taiwan was a gross violation of Taiwan's rights
under international law, particularly in the way it designated the zones for
its exercises. In terms of the range of its missile tests, Wu said China is
clearly trying to deter other countries from interfering in its attempt to
invade Taiwan and gives the world a clear image of "China's geostrategic
ambitions beyond Taiwan."
"In other words, China's real intention behind
these military exercises is to alter the status quo in the Taiwan Strait and
the entire region. This has already brought significantly unstable elements
into the mix, threatening regional security," Wu said. (By Joseph Yeh /
CNA)
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