TAIPEI: Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te said on Tuesday (Jul 30) “a threat from China to any country is a threat to the world”, emphasising to lawmakers of more than 20 countries that global democracies must unite against “authoritarian expansion”.
China has in recent years stepped up military and political pressures on democratic Taiwan, which Beijing claims as part of its territory.
While Taipei officially only has a dozen diplomatic allies, it has strengthened partnerships with democracies around the world – especially the United States, its largest weapons provider – as Beijing ups the rhetoric of unification being “inevitable”.
On Tuesday, Lai attended a summit of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) – a group of parliamentarians hailing from Uruguay and Canada to Japan and Britain concerned about how democracies interact with Beijing.
Praising the 49 lawmakers from 23 countries and the European Parliament for making the journey to Taipei, Lai said the delegation demonstrates “the importance and support” that various countries have for Taiwan.
“They send a crucial message to democratic partners worldwide: Democracy requires unity and protection,” he said.
“I want to emphasise that a threat from China to any country is a threat to the world. Taiwan will do everything to join democratic partners to uphold the umbrella of democracy, (and) protect democratic nations from the threat of authoritarian expansion.”
