October 17, 2024
No. 355
At the invitation of the Global Taiwan Institute (GTI), a think tank based in Washington, DC, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung delivered a keynote address via a prerecorded video at its annual symposium held on October 16. He discussed the grave challenges authoritarian coalitions and expansionism pose to the international order and commended the United States for creating a strong and mutually reinforcing latticework of alliances. He said that Taiwan, as an indispensable member of the international community, hoped to promote integrated diplomacy and work with the United States to respond to a variety of challenges.
Minister Lin explained how China was ramping up military intimidation against Taiwan, in addition to legal, public opinion, and cognitive warfare. He indicated that China was deliberately using gray-zone tactics in an attempt to create a new normal across the Taiwan Strait, which seriously jeopardized peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and the region. Minister Lin thanked the United States for its staunch commitment to supporting Taiwan’s security, as reflected in such assistance as foreign military financing and presidential drawdown authority in recent years. He affirmed that Taiwan had also been steadily increasing its defense budget as well as whole-of-society defense resilience and defense capabilities.
Minister Lin stated that the core of integrated diplomacy was the promotion of economic and trade partnerships based on mutual prosperity. He anticipated that through the Economic Prosperity Partnership Dialogue and other platforms Taiwan and the United States would continue to increase supply chain resilience and cooperation in critical areas. He noted that in line with the one plus one equals three concept, Taiwan and the United States could jointly facilitate development in third countries. He added that under the Global Cooperation and Training Framework cooperation with other nations could be expanded to respond to global issues and challenges, paving the way for Taiwan’s policy shift from consolidating diplomatic ties to bolstering the prosperity of diplomatic allies. Emphasizing that Taiwan needed the world and the world needed Taiwan, Minister Lin said that Taiwan would continue to work closely with the United States, allies, and partners to implement integrated diplomacy and expand Taiwan’s international presence.
GTI was the first think tank in Washington, DC, to focus on Taiwan-related research. The theme of this year’s symposium was “US-Taiwan Relations: An Ironclad Partnership in a Period of Global Disruption.” It explored Taiwan-US defense and security cooperation, the US elections, China’s gray-zone threats, and geopolitical security issues. (E)