Tsai welcomes international participants to Ketagalan Forum

2022/07/29

President Tsai Ing-wen received participants to the Ketagalan Forum at the Presidential Office July 27 in Taipei City, reaffirming commitment to promoting long-term openness, prosperity and stability in the Indo-Pacific region.
 
Standing on the frontline of democracy, Taiwan is determined to work with its partners around the world to safeguard the shared values of freedom and democracy, the president said.
 
Taiwan is willing and able to meet the high standards of international trade norms while helping foster greater global solidarity and cooperation, she added.
 
According to the president, the ongoing pandemic and Russian invasion of Ukraine have brought tremendous changes in the international landscape and highlighted the need to develop more resilient supply chains through deeper economic and trade cooperation.
 
To this end, the first meeting of the newly launched U.S.-Taiwan Initiative on 21st-Century Trade was held last month, Tsai said. The country is also seeking to join the Japan-led Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, as well as rolling out plans to enhance partnership with the Europe Union, she added.
 
The president thanked the forum attendees for sharing their insights on key global issues and providing advice to Taiwan.
 
In response, former Estonia President Toomas Hendrik Ilves said a new security architecture and alliance based on shared values is needed, if the free world is to defend itself against authoritarian regimes.
 
Taiwan is contrary proof to the fallacy propagated by authoritarian regimes that Asian values are incompatible with the concepts of freedom, liberty and respect for human rights, showing in fact that these are universal values, he added.
 
Hosted July 26 in both physical and virtual form by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Taipei City-based Prospect Foundation, the daylong forum focused on key issues including the new Cold War between democracy and authoritarianism; responses to the impact of the Russia-Ukraine War on regional order; and how U.S.-China rivalry and sanctions on Russia affect and reshape world economic order.
 
It featured keynote speakers Janet Napolitano, former U.S. secretary of homeland security, Kono Taro, former Japan minister of defense and foreign affairs, members of the diplomatic corps in Taiwan and around 20 academics and political figures from Australia, Canada, France, Germany, India, Japan, New Zealand, Singapore, the U.K. and the U.S.
 
Key participants included Jim Mattis, former U.S. secretary of defense; Roger Wicker, U.S. senator; Christopher Pyne and Kevin Andrews, former Australian ministers for defense; Nakayama Yasuhide, former Japan state minister of defense; Suzuki Keisuke, member of Japan House of Representatives; and Robin Niblett, director and chief executive of U.K. thinktank Chatham House.


Source: Taiwan Today (https://taiwantoday.tw/index.php)