‘We are not afraid’: Taiwan chancellor says island will face China

China’s threat to Taiwan is “more serious than ever,” but the island will stand firm to protect its freedom and democracy, including welcoming those who support the country, Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said in an interview with Taiwan. CNN on Monday (8).

Wu’s defiant message came as China said it had continued military exercises around the autonomous island after a four-day show of force following US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip to the capital Taipei. last week.

“China has been threatening Taiwan for years and it’s gotten more serious in recent years,” Wu said. “Whether House Speaker Pelosi visits Taiwan or not, the Chinese military threat against Taiwan has always existed and that’s what we need to deal with.”

Welcoming foreign friends to the island was a key part of Taiwan’s strategy to counter China’s attempts to isolate it from the international community, regardless of Beijing’s potential backlash, Wu said.

“[A China] can’t dictate to Taiwan that we shouldn’t have anyone who wants to come and show support for Taiwan,” said Wu, who has served as the island’s foreign minister since 2018.

Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan – the first by an incumbent mayor to the island in 25 years – was vehemently opposed by the Communist Party of China, which views Taiwan as its territory despite never having controlled it.

After Pelosi’s visit, Beijing increased pressure on Taiwan, including through economic penalties, launching missiles over the island for the first time and exercises that Taipei said were intended to “simulate” an attack on its main island and navy.

While these exercises were originally expected to end on Sunday, they continued around Taiwan on Monday, according to an announcement by China’s military.

But as live-fire drills raised global fears of potential military conflict, the mood in Taiwan remained calm and life went on as usual, with restaurants and public transport packed.

For Wu, the threat made it even more important for Taiwan to continue building international relations and show that it is not afraid.

“I worry that China might actually launch a war against Taiwan,” he said. “But what it’s doing now is trying to scare us and the best way to deal with it is [é] show China that we are not afraid.”

Pelosi in Taiwan

Although his trip was much discussed and controversial, Taiwanese authorities received confirmation only shortly before his arrival, Wu said.

“As her trip is always subject to many considerations, especially safety issues, […] we didn’t get confirmation until the last moment she finalized her plan,” Wu said, adding that Taipei had known the itinerary in advance for a few days, but not the exact time of her arrival.

The visit by the Speaker of the House and an accompanying delegation included meetings at the Taiwan legislature and at the office of Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, where Pelosi said she had come to send an “unambiguous message” that “the United States is with Taiwan”.

Wu said her most memorable impression of the trip was greeting Pelosi and the delegation at the airport, where she “showed her charm” by saying she had been looking forward to their visit for a long time.

“And when she left, she not only said goodbye to me, but also said goodbye to the staff, security personnel and the people who were taking care of the airport administration, one by one,” Wu said.

When asked whether the United States would increase its support for Taiwan after the visit, Wu said the US has always been “highly supportive” of Taiwan, but current support is “unprecedented.”

In an exclusive interview with CNN Last October, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen confirmed that some U.S. military trainers were in Taiwan — the first time a Taiwanese leader has admitted such a presence since Washington and Taipei broke off diplomatic ties in 1979.

But perceptions of American support have sparked Beijing’s ire against the House Speaker’s visit, with China’s Foreign Ministry issuing a statement shortly after Pelosi’s arrival on Tuesday night. saying his trip would have a “severe impact on the political basis of China-US relations” and “gravely undermine peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait”.

Beijing announced large-scale military exercises in what it said were six zones around the island of Taiwan shortly after Pelosi’s arrival, in response to what it saw as a violation of China’s “sovereignty and territorial integrity”.

While the US and many of its allies criticized the exercises, China defended its actions as “legitimate and justified”, saying it was the US, not China, that was “the biggest saboteur and destabilizer of peace in the Taiwan Strait”. , where China claims “sovereign rights and jurisdiction”.

‘Destroying’ the status quo

Taiwan and China have been ruled separately since the end of a civil war more than seven decades ago, in which defeated nationalists fled to Taipei. Taiwan moved from authoritarian rule to democracy in the 1990s and is now ranked as one of the freest jurisdictions in Asia by freedom housea US-based non-profit organization.

In recent years, as his power has grown, Chinese leader Xi Jinping has made clear his ambitions to “reunify” the island – by force if necessary.

Wu accused China of trying to change the status quo in the Taiwan Strait, including carrying out military exercises in recent days at the midline, the midway point between the island and mainland China, which was previously an informal but widely respected border of control between Beijing and Taipei.

Dozens of Chinese warplanes crossed the median line between Thursday and Sunday, according to reports from Taiwan’s Defense Ministry. While the informal midline has largely preserved peace in the Taiwan Strait for decades, China now openly denies its existence.

“This kind of behavior is destroying the status quo, it is destroying peace and stability in this region and it should not be accepted,” Wu said, adding that China had tried to declare the Taiwan Strait as its internal waters for “some time.” before Pelosi’s visit.

This had implications beyond Taiwan as China seeks to expand its influence in the Western Pacific, Wu said. But he added that he remains optimistic about the future.

“Democracy will prevail,” he said. “If you look at authoritarianism, it is not resilient. It may feel strong and it may appear to be expanding. But it is not resilient and at some point it will break.”

When asked if the situation could be called a crisis, Wu said it was ultimately up to Beijing. “It depends on the will of Chinese leaders to see if they want to maintain relations with Taiwan […] peacefully and stably”.

Wu said he didn’t know whether Chinese leaders had “already made up their minds” to use force to take Taiwan, but Taiwanese officials were “looking at several different scenarios,” in particular over concerns that Beijing might try to divert attention from internal problems by creating a crisis in the Taiwan Strait.

“The important thing for us is that we need to be prepared,” Wu said. “We want to defend the freedom and democracy we enjoy here. Nobody can take that away from us.”