Foreign Minister Jaushieh Joseph Wu (right) gives an interview to Rishabh Gulati of India’s NewsX Feb. 29 from Taipei City. (MOFA)
 

Foreign Minister Jaushieh Joseph Wu said Feb. 29 that democracies around the world need to work together to prevent authoritarian expansion and that Taiwan looks forward to deepening cooperation with India across the board.

The minister made the remarks during an online interview with Rishabh Gulati for a segment aired later the same day on NewsX, a leading English news channel based in India.

According to Wu, current global circumstances underscore the heightened tension between members of the free world and authoritarian regimes. In addition to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, China continues to threaten Taiwan with military pressure, economic coercion and gray-zone tactics while expanding its influence in the South and East China Seas, he said.

Beijing is also attempting to break through the first island chain, a string of islands spanning from Indonesia to Japan, by extending its reach into the Pacific and Indian Oceans, the minister said, citing the security agreement it signed with the Solomon Islands in April 2022 and its String of Pearls strategy to surround India. There is no escape for free nations unless they unite to counter such efforts, Wu added.

The minister said the international community is aware more than ever of the possible impact of a confrontation in the Taiwan Strait, adding that support for cross-strait peace and stability recently expressed by the Group of Seven countries, EU and India, as well as by leaders of the U.S., Japan and South Korea following trilateral summit meetings, is sincerely appreciated by the government and people of Taiwan.

Wu took the opportunity to welcome the memorandum of understanding concluded Feb. 16 to facilitate the employment of Indian workers in Taiwan, and said he looks forward to expanding bilateral exchanges in agriculture, culture, education and trade on the strength of the South Asian country’s large commercial market and the two sides’ complementary advantages in the semiconductor sector. It is hoped that a bilateral free trade agreement will soon be concluded to further strengthen partnership, he added. (SFC-E)