September 22, 2023
No. 315
President Tsai Ing-wen delivered prerecorded video remarks at the Concordia Annual Summit, organized by the New York-based nonprofit Concordia on September 20.
In her remarks, President Tsai emphasized that peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait were in the interests of all. She said that Taiwan’s security and international participation were about defending the universal values of freedom, democracy, and respect for human rights and called for international cooperation to safeguard such values.
This was the second time that President Tsai had addressed the Concordia Annual Summit—which is held in New York during the same week as the United Nations (UN) General Assembly—to reiterate to the international community that Taiwan would staunchly safeguard the universal values of freedom, democracy, and human rights and was committed to engaging with the world.
Following President Tsai’s remarks, Representative to the US Ambassador Hsiao Bi-khim took part in a dialogue entitled “Shifting Security: A Conversation on Taiwan” with Daniel Russel, former US Assistant Secretary of State and Vice President for International Security and Diplomacy at the Asia Society Policy Institute (ASPI).
Noting that Taiwan-US relations were rock-solid due to shared ideals, Ambassador Hsiao stated that the bilateral partnership enjoyed cross-party support in the United States and Taiwan. She further emphasized that the international community’s greatest common denominator on the Taiwan Strait was maintaining the status quo and echoed President Tsai’s assertion that peace across the Taiwan Strait was not only a regional issue but also indispensable to global prosperity and economic growth.
Ambassador Hsiao added that Taiwan was working to maintain regional peace and stability and willing to cooperate with international partners—in particular, the United States—on the issue. At the same time, she said, Taiwan would maintain an open attitude toward cross-strait dialogue to ensure that the status quo could continue to benefit people throughout the region. She called on all stakeholders to work together to deter any possibility of disruptions to the peaceful status quo.
Ambassador Hsiao went on to point out that Taiwan had been unfairly excluded from international organizations like the UN and that it required a lot of creativity and innovation to break through that political isolation. As an example, she said that the COVID-19 pandemic had demonstrated that political boundaries could not isolate a virus and that no one should be left behind.
Ambassador Hsiao thanked G7 foreign ministers for their recent joint statement supporting Taiwan’s meaningful participation in the World Health Organization. She also thanked the United States for providing a creative platform for Taiwan’s international participation through the inception of the Global Cooperation and Training Framework, which she said had allowed Taiwan to contribute to the international community and expand its international space.
Founded in 2011, Concordia is dedicated to promoting cross-sector public-private partnerships of high social impact and is highly regarded among the UN community in New York. The organization has held annual summits at the same time as the UN General Assembly every September for 12 consecutive years, and it has previously hosted such speakers as US President Joe Biden and UN Secretary-General António Guterres. (E)