New Southbound Policy Portal

MOFA welcomes IPAC launch of Operation MIST and emphasis on peace and stability across Taiwan Strait

From Department of European Affairs, MOFA 2024-03-08

The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) released a video on March 8 announcing the launch of Operation Measure the Impact of a Shock in the Taiwan Strait (Operation MIST). The video emphasized that maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait was the joint responsibility of all countries. It called on governments worldwide to squarely face the potential impacts of a cross-strait conflict on the global economy, as well as urging them to unite to prevent such conflict from happening. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) expresses its welcome and appreciation of this initiative.

The video stated that all countries should attach great importance to the threat posed by China and that cross-strait instability would seriously affect the entire world. It noted that a blockade of the Taiwan Strait could trigger global economic losses exceeding US$10 trillion—five times higher than the economic damage caused by the Russia-Ukraine war and potentially surpassing even that of the COVID-19 pandemic. The video stressed that such unimaginable devastation must not be allowed to occur. It appealed to governments across the globe to proactively work to prevent conflict across the Taiwan Strait, both to safeguard the people of Taiwan and their right to self-determination and to protect people of all countries from being negatively impacted.

Participants in IPAC include over 30 nations and more than 250 parliamentarians from around the world. It aims to promote cooperation among parliamentarians from like-minded countries and use legislation to urge China to uphold international norms, global security, and human rights. Seventeen parliamentarians took part in the Operation MIST video, hailing from the European Union, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, Sweden, North Macedonia, Ukraine, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, Japan, the Philippines, Australia, and France.

MOFA calls on like-minded partners to continue working with Taiwan to jointly maintain peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and the Indo-Pacific region, as well as consolidating core international democratic values. (E)