Taiwan will continue to strengthen cooperation with democratic partners to address the challenges posed by authoritarianism, as China’s continued military and “gray zone” activities have raised widespread international concern, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday.
Lai made the remarks at a meeting with a delegation from the US National Endowment for Democracy (NED) at the Presidential Office in Taipei.
The delegation included representatives from the NED’s key partners: the International Republican Institute, the National Democratic Institute, the Center for International Private Enterprise and the Solidarity Institute.
Photo: Screen grab from the Presidential Office’s Flickr page
Lai thanked members of the delegation for standing with Taiwan, noting that it is NED president and CEO Damon Wilson’s fifth time visiting the nation.
This year marks the US’ 250th anniversary and the 30th anniversary of Taiwan’s first direct presidential election, Lai said.
Although Taiwan and the US are on opposite sides of the Pacific, their shared pursuit of democracy and freedom have connected them closely as they work together to confront global challenges, the president said.
Photo: Screen grab from Joseph Wu’s X account
In recent years, China’s continuous military activities and “gray zone” coercion against neighboring countries in the East China Sea, South China Sea and Taiwan Strait have seriously affected regional peace and stability, Lai said.
China’s transnational repression and surveillance, including the use of domestic laws to expand authoritarian influence, have drawn heightened international concern and vigilance, he added.
In the face of these multifaceted threats, Taiwan continues to strengthen its defense, trade, technology and energy resilience, and cooperation with democratic partners like the US, Lai said.
The Global Cooperation and Training Framework workshop last month in Taipei brought together like-minded countries to address transnational repression, aiming to strengthen democratic resilience and address the challenges posed by authoritarian expansion, he said.
The NED and its partners have long worked with the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy and other civil organizations, strengthening the connection between Taiwan and the rest of the world, Lai said.
Taiwan will continue to deepen cooperation with the US across democracy, security and trade, while jointly safeguarding a rules-based international order and promoting global peace and prosperity, he said.
Separately yesterday, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said during a meeting with a delegation from the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China at the Presidential Office that China’s launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile toward the South Pacific on Monday and other actions highlight its expanding “malign influence operations.”
As Beijing continues to apply political and economic pressure on Taiwan, Taiwan will continue working with international partners and like-minded countries to defend democracy and freedom, she said.
In related news, National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) yesterday said that the missile launched by China on Monday was a JL-2, amid wide speculation that it was a JL-3.
Wu condemned the launch as a provocation that threatens stability in the Indo-Pacific region, saying the move demonstrated China’s continued role as a “regional bully.”
According to a flight path map Wu posted on X, the missile was launched from the South China Sea, flew over northern Luzon in the Philippines, and landed in international waters in the South Pacific between Nauru and Tonga.
Experts estimated the missile traveled about 7,000km, while some analyses put the full flight trajectory at more than 7,300km — a distance that closely aligns with the operational range of the JL-2.
Typhoon Bavi’s center is looking more likely to pass north of Taiwan than to make landfall in the northern part of the country, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, adding that the storm is still too far away to forecast its exact track. As of 2pm yesterday, the center of Typhoon Bavi was about 2,560km east-southeast of Taiwan, moving west-northwest at 27kph, according to the agency. The storm, which has a radius of 350km, had sustained winds of 216kph near its center, with gusts of up to 270kph, CWA data showed. Bavi is expected to pass closest to Taiwan on Friday or
Typhoon Bavi is forecast to start having a major effect on the weather in Taiwan on Thursday and its outer bands could bring rain and lower temperatures across the country, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. The storm is still far from Taiwan, and its path is not certain, the CWA said, adding that it did not rule out issuing a sea or land warning. As of 2pm yesterday, the typhoon was about 3,360km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, and was moving west to west-northwest at 13kph. It was packing maximum sustained winds of up to 191kph near its center,
TRENDS: The survey results released by the MAC showed that support for maintaining the ‘status quo’ indefinitely had risen to 33.9%, while 61% opposed unification Despite Beijing intensifying its legal warfare against Taiwan, public opposition to unification with China has grown significantly over the past two decades, with the proportion of Taiwanese who reject unification rising to 61.7 percent this year from 39 percent in 2005, polling trends released by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) showed. In addition to the “Anti-Secession” Law enacted in 2005 and the “22 guidelines to punish Taiwanese independence,” China on Wednesday last week promulgated the Ethnic Unity and Progress Promotion Law, that critics in Taiwan say aims to reinforce the false identification of Taiwanese as members of the Chinese nation.
DEFENDING TAIWAN: The government would work with like-minded countries to deepen international engagement and counter cross-border repression, Lai said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday said that “Taiwan will not accept ‘red terror,’” as he outlined countermeasures against China’s Law on Promoting Ethnic Unity and Progress. The law, passed by the Chinese National People’s Congress in March and which went into effect yesterday, requires all Chinese citizens to uphold national unification. Critics in Taiwan have said it aims to strengthen the identification of Taiwanese as members of the “Chinese nation.” It also states that people or organizations, inside or outside China, who undermine ethnic unity or promote ethnic division can be held legally liable, without clearly identifying what kind of conduct falls under