TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan is making preparations to strengthen its social resilience and defenses to respond to the Chinese military threat, Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴), Taiwan’s envoy to the U.S., said on Sunday (Aug. 7).
Taiwan is “working on making our society stronger and more resilient, fortifying our defenses so that we have means of managing risks,” she said in an interview with Face of the Nation on CBS.
“The risks are not posed by Taiwan, nor are they posed by the United States. The risks are posed by Beijing,” she added. Hsiao pointed out that Taiwan has long been facing threats from China and said it refuses to let Beijing’s non-stop threats “define our desire to make friends internationally.”
Hsiao said Taiwan has continuously urged China to participate in talks to seek a peaceful resolution but Beijing’s threats toward Taiwan have only increased. In addition to military intimidation, China has also engaged in disinformation, cyberattacks, and economic coercion, the representative said.
“They have a broad tool kit that we have become more and more accustomed to. But again, that is not going to change our determination to defend our freedom,” Hsiao said.
When asked about certain lessons Taiwan has learned amid ramped-up Chinese military threats, Hsiao said the government realizes it must be “better prepared.” She said that in order to prevent an actual Chinese invasion, Taiwan needs to bolster its defense capabilities and garner widespread global support.
Hsiao stressed that Taiwan will never provoke a conflict in the Taiwan Strait and said it remains committed to upholding the status quo. She said Taiwan calls on China to “act with restraint in the shared interest of stability in the region that has worked for all stakeholders in the region.”
Commenting on the Taiwan-U.S. security partnership, the representative said ties are based on the Taiwan Relations Act and the Six Assurances. She said the two nations have a “strong security partnership” that protects shared interests, which include regional peace and stability.
With regard to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan, Hsiao said Beijing is attempting to “manufacture a crisis” over a decades-long practice of congressional visits.
The representative said that if China wants to become a responsible stakeholder in the world, it must decide if its "rejuvenation" will be met with "international respect, or with international condemnation.”
