Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

China will not stop with Taiwan: Lai

Taipei Times

China’s authoritarian expansionism would not stop with Taiwan, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, calling for solidarity among the world’s democracies to check Beijing’s territorial ambitions.

Taiwan is determined to become a decisive force for democracy, peace and prosperity, standing side-by-side with its democratic partners to confront authoritarian expansionism and protect shared values, he told the annual Ketagalan Forum on Indo-Pacific security in Taipei.

Authoritarianism is now a global challenge, Lai said, using as examples Chinese military expansionism, economic coercion and the use of hybrid warfare tactics such as cyberattacks and cognitive warfare.

Ko Wen-je’s woes and the KMT’s response

Chen Chi-nung 陳啟濃

Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) is in deep trouble over the handling of his presidential campaign funds and is now facing legal action.

Responding to the case, Ma Ying-jeou Foundation director Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭岑) said that if the controversy adversely affects Ko, it would be also be bad news for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT).

Why does the development of the KMT depend so much on what happens to Ko at this point?

What is interesting is that neither Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) office nor the KMT itself seems to be overly bothered about whether the particulars of the case in which Ko is accused involves any contraventions of the law.

Lai vows to bolster nation’s defenses

Taipei Times

President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday reaffirmed his government’s commitment to continue bolstering Taiwan’s defense capabilities through promoting military reforms and increasing spending while meeting with Japanese parliamentarians, and reiterated a similar message in a meeting with US lawmakers on the same day.

Lai made the remarks while hosting a delegation led by Japanese Representative Shigeru Ishiba, adding that Taiwan and Japan should shore up their ties to secure peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region.

Taiwan and Japan have an abiding friendship that has grown stronger from the shared challenges of earthquakes and the global COVID-19 pandemic, Lai said, adding that the two nations have a brotherly bond.

Taiwan’s right to self-determination

Carlos Jose Fleitas Rodriguez

A few days ago, Paraguayan President Santiago Pena in statements through a French press agency said that Paraguay recognizes Taiwan’s right to self-determination as a nation, and that the relationship between Paraguay and Taiwan has lasted for 67 years and there are no plans to change it.

This forceful affirmation by the Guarani chief executive clearly indicates the firmness of relations between the two states and that they have solid links, which make it last over time. The right to self-determination is the right of people to decide their own forms of government, and pursue economic, social and cultural development, as well as to structure their countries freely, without external interference and in accordance with the principle of equity.

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