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Taiwan’s efforts will continue despite China: Tsai

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Taiwan’s efforts will continue despite China: Tsai

Taiwan’s efforts will continue despite China: Tsai

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – As Taiwan’s failed bid to attend the International Civil Aviation Organization’s Triennial Assembly has shown, pressure from China will continue, but so will Taiwan’s efforts, President Tsai Ing-wen said Saturday.
The government was expecting to receive an invitation to attend the September 27 to October 7 assembly in the Canadian city of Montreal, but the letter never came, most likely due to opposition from Beijing.
Referring to the ICAO case, Tsai said such incidents might happen again. “These kind of challenges and problems will continue to occur,” she said, but even if frustrating setbacks continue due to the immense pressure from China, Taiwan’s efforts will even be less likely to stop, she said.
Addressing a seminar on the topic of 20 years of direct presidential elections, Tsai emphasized the importance of the country’s foreign diplomacy. It is only because a freely and democratically elected president can lead a delegation overseas, that the world can see Taiwan and understand how its 23 million people support freedom, democracy and human rights, she said.
Aviation safety was a basic human right, Tsai said, so Taiwan should not be kept outside for any political reason. Even though in the end, the country was unable to attend the ICAO assembly, its efforts were still noticed, and major countries such as the United States, the European nations, Japan, Taiwan’s diplomatic allies and even the international media paid attention and voiced support for its presence, Tsai said.
Each effort by Taiwan would accumulate into something stronger, according to the president. “Wherever our friends are, there we must go, and where there are opportunities, there will be our efforts to cooperate,” she said.