Foreign Minister Joseph Wu Says Taiwan Committed to Safeguard “a Free and Open Indo-Pacific”

Joseph Wu, head of Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) spoke to journalists yesterday in a talk organized by American think-tank East-West Center. During the event, Wu welcomed many developments which he said are in the advancement of democracy.

He mentioned nations like Japan, the United States, the Philippines and South Korea as among the partners Taiwan wished to cooperate with when it comes to regional security. MOFA did not mince words when singling out the threat of “China’s expansionism and disinformation.”

Wu was happy to see the results of the two summits supported by Washington, the first last August with Japan and South Korea and a subsequent security meeting with leaders of the Philippines and Japan in Washington.

“It should help respond to China’s brutal behavior in the East China Sea and the South China Sea,” the MOFA said in a statement.

The official considers this cooperating cluster of nations as the “democratic camp” working closely to push back Chinese authoritarianism.

Meanwhile, the Armed Forces of the Philippines observed this week that there have been fewer Chinese vessels circulating around the South China Sea.

In a report, Philippine military officials stated that from 121 militia and coast guard vessels last week, only 98 vessels were seen in the following week from April 30 to May 6. The decrease in presence may have to do with the ongoing war games of the US and Philippine militaries.

Today, the Balikatan (shoulder to shoulder) joint military exercises between the US and the Philippines to the north and western edges of the archipelago.

Balikatan, which started last April 22, officially comes to a close this Friday. In the run up to the end of the war games, soldiers from both countries sank a de-commissioned mock enemy ship off the north-western coast of the Philippines, less than 500 kilometers from Taiwanese land.

“This exercise was about the collective capability of our combined fires networks and increasing interoperability to sense and shoot targets from a variety of Philippine, US and Australian land, sea and air platforms,” said US Marine Col. Douglas Krugman of the combined coordination center.

Several hundred Australian forces joined the simulation as well. Philippine and US officials are already hammering out an agreement that would let Japanese forces join next year’s Balikatan drills.

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TNL Editor: Kim Chan (@thenewslensintl)

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