Foreign Minister Wu gives exclusive interview to Austrian newspaper

2022/08/23

The government will continue to enhance Taiwan’s defensive and asymmetric combat capabilities to safeguard the country’s sovereignty in the face of China’s increasing threats, according to Foreign Minister Jaushieh Joseph Wu.
 
Wu made the remarks in an exclusive interview with Dorina Pascher of Austria-based daily newspaper Salzburger Nachrichten Aug. 18.
 
China’s ambition to annex Taiwan is a typical example of authoritarian expansion, Wu said and cited Beijing’s recent military exercises and cyber-attacks on Presidential Office, Ministries of Foreign Affairs and National Defense websites. Taiwan, however, is committed to defending shared values and strengthening partnerships with democracies, Wu said.
 
Taiwan accounts for 63 percent of the world’s semiconductor foundry capacity, and 92 percent of global advanced chips production and the world economy will be seriously impacted if China invades Taiwan.
 
China is not only trying to control regions like the East China Sea, the South China Sea and the South Pacific, but also Africa and Latin America. The democratic world should stand together to curb the spread of totalitarianism, in the same way that there are sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, Wu added.
 
The importance of cross-strait peace and stability has attracted increasing attention from the international community, Wu said. This is evidenced by the visits of U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi earlier this month and other delegations from Europe and the U.S., he added.
 
According to Wu, Taiwan and China are like David and Goliath and Taiwan has received an outpouring of support from Central and Eastern European countries and Baltic states for a deeper Taiwan-Europe relationship. Wu cited quotes from Lithuania Foreign Minister Gabrielius Landsbergis such as “the free world can’t allow Taiwan to become a second Ukraine” and “freedom-loving people must look out for each other!”
 
In a tweet on its official Twitter account, the MOFA said “Why does #China’s unprecedented military coercion in #TaiwanStrait & #IndoPacific matter to #Europe? Minister Wu spelt it out in his @sn_aktuell interview with @anni_rot & urged the free world to cast an eye on authoritarian expansionism & unite to defend freedom & democracy.”


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