Taiwan is feeling Chinese pressure

APPEAL: PRESIDENT WANTS INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT

‘Beijing must be constrained and expansion of its influence minimised.’

“This is not just Taiwan’s challenge, it is a challenge for the region and the world as a whole, because today it’s Taiwan, but tomorrow it may be any other country that will have to face the expansion of China’s influence,” Tsai said.

“Their democracy, freedom, and freedom to do business will one day be affected by China.

“We need to work together to reaffirm our values of democracy and freedom in order to constrain China and also minimise the expansion of their hegemonic influence.”

Her comments come after a sustained period of aggression from China towards Taiwan, which Beijing believes is part of mainland territory, to be reunified by force if necessary.

Self-ruling Taiwan is a democracy and sees itself as a sovereign country, although it has never formally declared independence from the mainland.

An increasingly hardline President Xi Jinping has made it clear that what he sees as threats to China’s territorial integrity will not be tolerated.

China is deeply suspicious of Tsai as her Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is traditionally pro-independence.

Since she took office in 2016, Beijing has ramped up military drills near the island and has successfully pressured some major international companies to list Taiwan as part of China on their websites.

It has also exerted diplomatic pressure by ensuring Taiwan is excluded from major international forums and wooing away some of its few remaining official allies.

But countries both around the region and further afield have expressed concern over China building military facilities on remote islands in the South China Sea. – AFP