[1/4] Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen delivers a speech marking the seventh anniversary of her inauguration in Taipei, Taiwan, May 20, 2023. Taiwan’s Presidential Office/Handout via Portal
TAIPEI, May 20 (Portal) – Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen vowed on Saturday to uphold the status quo of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait amid high tensions with China, which has increased military pressure on the democratically-ruled island.
Taiwan will not provoke and will not bow to Chinese pressure, Tsai said in a speech at the Taipei presidential office on the seventh anniversary of her reign.
China, which views Taiwan as its property and threatens to seize control of the island if necessary, has ramped up military and diplomatic pressure to force the island to assume Chinese sovereignty since Tsai took office in 2016.
Beijing has rejected Tsai’s calls for talks on the grounds that she is a separatist. Tsai has repeatedly vowed to defend Taiwan’s freedom and democracy.
“War is not an option. Neither side can unilaterally change the status quo by non-peaceful means,” Tsai said. “Maintaining the status quo of peace and stability is the consensus for both the world and Taiwan.”
“Although Taiwan is surrounded by risks, it is by no means a risk taker. We are a responsible risk manager, and Taiwan will work with democratic countries and communities around the world to mitigate risks together,” she said.
Leaders of the rich countries of the Group of Seven (G7) agreed to seek a peaceful solution to the Taiwan issue, the host of the G7 Hiroshima summit, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, said on Friday.
Tsai said Taiwanese officials are in talks with U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration about providing $500 million worth of arms aid to Taiwan, adding that the aid is intended to handle arms shipments that are expanding due to delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
She stressed the global importance of Taiwan’s supply chain, which produces most of the world’s advanced semiconductor chips, and vowed to keep the most advanced chip technologies and R&D centers in Taiwan.
Taiwan is gearing up for a key presidential election in mid-January, with tensions in China high on the campaign agenda.
Representing Taiwan’s main opposition Kuomintang (KMT) party in the crucial vote in mid-January, Mayor of New Taipei City Hou Yu-ih said on Saturday that under Tsai’s rule Taiwan faces a choice between “peace and war” and pledged to to maintain stability in the region through unspecified “dialogue and exchange”.
“The fear of war will never destroy the hope of peace,” Hou said at an event in Taipei to kick off his campaign, vowing to defend the Republic of China, Taiwan’s official name.
Hou is up against Taiwan Vice President William Lai of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party.
The KMT, which advocates close ties with China, has portrayed the 2024 vote as a choice between war and peace.
When asked about the opposition’s stance on the elections at the presidential office, Tsai said that maintaining peace should be the consensus of all political parties in Taiwan and that “fears of war should not be sold for electoral gain.”
Reporting by Yimou Lee; Edited by Jacqueline Wong
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