Taiwan stands firm with or without diplomatic relations, says envoy
• Yuqing: Taiwan part of China, fly path benefits both sides of Strait
THE very existence of Taiwan has demonstrated that with or without diplomatic relations, Taiwan stands firm, says the representative, Taipei Trade office in Nigeria, Andy YihPing Liu.
Liu said its democratically elected president would be sworn into office on May 20, stressing that Taiwan is standing strong and up against any bully or threat from China.
“The Chinese will not like to see that, they want the world to see Taiwan as an island attached to China, but it is not. So, we would like to see the rest of the world view Taiwan as a trustworthy partner.
“At the same time, we are a legitimate government with our own constitution and the right to elect a president. So, we are no different from any other country who have been protecting their own national interest and democratic systems,” he said during a short discussion with selected diplomatic journalists in Lagos.
On their plan to expand diplomatic relations across the globe, Liu said Taiwan will continue to reach out to countries that share similar democratic values, adding that though their neighbour have been threatening and bullying other nations to avoid them, it is up to those nations to take their decisions.
As long as other countries see Taiwan as an equal, strong economic and development partner, Liu said his country would always reciprocate.
He explained that by successfully conducting its election early this year and hoping to handover on May 20, it demonstrates that the nation is a sovereign state.
His words: “So, we cannot challenge other countries to give us diplomatic recognition, but we hope that having a democratically elected president and the fact that the new government will be sworn in soon, demonstrate to the rest of the world that we are a sovereign state.”
Calling on the international community to pressurise China to return to the normal flight path, Liu said both nations have been separated for more than half a century with mutual respect until their neighbours began to display aggressive tendencies. “Chinese are taking a more aggressive attitude, single handedly changing some of the flight paths. So, we want to alert and remind the world that this has to change to strengthen the security of international flights on that corridor.
“It is not just Taiwan that is being affected, it can actually have an impact on the flight to Korea or to south east Asia or to any part of the world because in Taiwan or within the east Asia region, the flight routes are so popular. “So any slight change of the regional flight routes will have a huge influence on the airlines. So, we call on the international community to pay more attention to the changing of flight paths by the Chinese and we really hope that the Chinese will not interfere with anything like that anymore and put everything back to its original state,” he said. On the challenges likely to face the new government, he said his country is facing a generational challenge owing to the unwillingness of their youths to get married or procreate.
Liu said energy, technological improvements and trade competitiveness may be some of the issues that will face the new government. “Our birth rate is really low, so our government has asked us to encourage our new generation to get married, to get more children, to build a stronger workforce and then to have our aging population to be well taken care of.”