August 19, 2023
The government of China is willfully launching naval and air exercises and engaging in other acts of military provocation around Taiwan on the pretext that high-level Taiwanese officials have made transit stops in the United States. It has also weaponized the Cross-Strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, used economic coercion, and resorted to rhetorical intimidation and disinformation to blatantly intervene and interfere with Taiwan’s democratic elections. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) of the Republic of China (Taiwan) condemns in the strongest terms the belligerent actions taken by the Chinese authoritarian government.
The Chinese government brazenly disregards the fact that it is the basic right of a sovereign country for the R.O.C. (Taiwan) head of state and deputy head of state to visit other countries. It also ignores explicit explanations by the Taiwan and US governments that such transit arrangements are long-standing practice. It deliberately makes an issue of Taiwanese officials’ overseas visits and aims to meddle in Taiwan’s elections. Such willful behavior not only infringes on the free will of the Taiwanese people but also poses a threat to the common values and democratic way of life in the free world. In response to the Chinese government’s attempts to overtly meddle in other countries’ democratic elections through intimidation and coercion, MOFA urges democratic nations to understand clearly China’s authoritarian expansionist ambitions and prevent the serious erosion of shared fundamental values.
Taiwan is an internationally recognized democracy. Regular democratic elections are a source of pride for the people of Taiwan as regards Taiwan’s political development. They have become a part of life and constitute an important cornerstone and connection between Taiwan and other democratic states. In contrast, the People’s Republic of China is an authoritarian country known around the world for practicing internal oppression and external expansion. The people of democratic Taiwan will not accept authoritarian China’s interference and attempts to direct the course of their democratic elections. MOFA calls on all citizens—regardless of political stance—to unite in defending Taiwan’s democratic values, spurn China’s attempts to interfere with elections, and exercise their free will in Taiwan’s democratic elections.