by Ambassador Sherman S. KUO*
Taipei Representative Office in Greece expresses strong protest and solemn condemnation in response to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) using the US House Speaker’s visit to Taiwan as a pretext to escalate irrational and malicious saber-rattling against Taiwan in violation of the international principles of peace. The statement is as follows:
1. The government of the Republic of China (Taiwan) always extends welcome to international friends supporting Taiwan’s values of freedom and democracy. US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan is a significant show of the long-standing and strong Taiwan-US friendship and partnership bound by security interests. Taiwan is backed by the firm democratic resilience of our 23 million people and the groundswell of international support for us; therefore, we strongly believe that we will undoubtedly succeed in curbing authoritarian regimes’ encroachment upon our national sovereignty and jointly maintaining peace and stability of the Indo-Pacific region.
2. The current wave of intense CCP intimidation and retaliatory moves and concluded that they were part of the CCP’s pressure campaign aimed at forcing the global community to withdraw support for Taiwan. Going forward, we do not rule out the possibility that the CCP might further exacerbate situations across the Taiwan Strait and the region to make Taiwan isolated and helpless in order to advance its ultimate goal of coercing Taiwan into a negotiation for unification; should this happen, the peace and prosperity of East Asia will be in great peril. calls on democratic nations to show solidarity, voice our position unequivocally, and impose countermeasures to stop the spread of authoritarianism.
3. It is an objective truth that the two sides across the Taiwan Strait are not subordinate to each other; no amount of maximum pressure from the Beijing authorities can change this. Our government remains consistent in our policy to maintain peace across the Taiwan Strait: we firmly safeguard our national sovereignty and will never condone any “military invasion.” The CCP’s illegitimate and unjustifiable actions have undermined the status quo of the Taiwan Strait, put people’s lives and assets at stake, and severely breached the rules-based international order. In response, our government has been convening interagency meetings, closely watching the developments of the situation, exercising prudence and caution in our responses, and preventing the CCP from waging cognitive warfare and infiltration to divide our society. Meanwhile, we have been in close contact and collaboration with neighboring countries including the US. Moreover, our military has also been on high alert of the situation and fully ready to make timely and appropriate responses.
*Representative, Taipei Representative Office in Greece
By: N. Peter Kramer
