October 13, 2022
MOFA response to recent comments on Taiwan Strait tensions by High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell:
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) notes that High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell stated in his opening speech to the EU Ambassadors Annual Conference on October 10 that “the escalation of tension in Taiwan…was triggered by an individual travel of a personality that brought the Taiwan Strait…a lot of war games.”
MOFA reiterates that China has long threatened Taiwan with rhetorical attacks and military intimidation. China has recently used routine visits between democratic countries and other regular exchanges as a pretext to launch acts of military provocation and live-fire exercises in the waters and airspace around Taiwan. These malicious attempts to undermine the status quo across the Taiwan Strait and the stability of the Indo-Pacific region have seriously affected globally important air and shipping routes as well as impacted other commercial activities. China’s provocative behavior has been widely condemned by the international community. Democratic nations have also taken concrete steps to firmly support routine interactions between Taiwan and other countries.
MOFA stresses that China has unilaterally created a crisis, once again demonstrating that the Beijing authorities are solely responsible for undermining the cross-strait status quo and disrupting the international order. It is the aggressor not individuals conducting peaceful exchanges, that should be internationally condemned. MOFA has issued numerous statements of strong condemnation and consistently called on like-minded partners, including the EU, to continue to support democratic Taiwan and jointly deter authoritarian expansionist ambitions.