Russian Foreign Minister Sergev Lavrov at CICA today
Taiwan is on democracy’s first line of defense against the expansion of authoritarianism, says President Tsai Ing-wen
Nur Sultan/Beijing/Taipei: Russia today came forward in support Beijing’s call on Taiwan. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov today said at Kazakhstan’s capital Nur Sultan, “Russia, like the overwhelming majority of other countries in the world, considers Taiwan to be a part of the People’s Republic of China. We proceed from this and will continue to proceed in our foreign policy.”
Lavrov is in Nur Sultan for the 6th meeting of the foreign ministers of the countries participating in the Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA).
The CICA includes 27 states – ( Russia , Azerbaijan , Afghanistan , Bangladesh , Bahrain , Vietnam , Egypt , Israel , India , Jordan , Iraq , Iran , Kazakhstan , Cambodia , Qatar , Kyrgyzstan , China , Mongolia , UAE , Palestine , Pakistan , Republic of Korea , Tajikistan, Thailand , Turkey , Uzbekistan , Sri Lanka ). 14 countries and associations have observer status ( Belarus , Indonesia , Laos , Malaysia , USA , Turkmenistan , Ukraine , Philippines , Japan , UN, League of Arab States , International Organization for Migration , OSCE , Parliamentary Assembly of Turkic-speaking countries).
In his address today, Lavrov remarked without naming any one country, “Unfortunately, the geopolitical alignments in the region are not getting easier, holding back its transition to the coordinate system of comprehensive multilateral cooperation and integration. We see deliberate attempts to “warm up” the situation, to undermine the existing mechanisms of interstate interaction. Both narrow-format structures of an exclusive composition and military blocs created in the logic of the Cold War and the policy of containment make their contribution”.
In the meantime, Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen vowed to protect Taiwan by forging consensus and unity among all segments of society. A report published today in Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ publication, Taiwan Today, quoted Ing-wen saying that at a time when the global political landscape is undergoing drastic change, Taiwan is on democracy’s first line of defense against the expansion of authoritarianism.
Earlier, Ing-wen had emphasised that Taiwan will continue to persevere in the face of external threats while remaining an indispensable part of the Indo-Pacific. “Despite being excluded from international organizations, Taiwan has striven to adhere to international protocols,” she stressed, and said through Taiwan’s new Southbound Policy her country sought to strengthen links with regional strategic partners such as the United States, Australia, India, Japan, and ASEAN countries. “Taiwan may be small in terms of territory, but it has proved that it can have a large regional presence. Taiwan has persevered in the face of existential threats and made itself an indispensable actor in the Indo-Pacific,” she stated.
In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Minister Spokesperson Zhao Lijian today again reiterated China’s claim over Taiwan and stated that Beijing had made clear its position on the Taiwan-related issues concerning the UN General Assembly on multiple occasions. Criticising Taiwan politicians for their for their recent remarks that the UNGA Resolution 2758 doesn’t decide the representation of Taiwan and that invoking this resolution to block Taiwan from joining the United Nations is inappropriate, Lijian made the following points:
“First, there is only one China in the world, the Taiwan region is an inalienable part of the Chinese territory, and the government of the People’s Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China. This is a basic fact recognized by the international community. Our position of adhering to the one-China principle will remain unchanged; our attitude of rejecting “two Chinas”, “one China, one Taiwan” and “Taiwan independence” is not to be challenged, and our resolve of upholding national sovereignty and territorial integrity is unswerving.
“Second, the United Nations is an intergovernmental international organization composed of sovereign states. Resolution 2758 adopted by the General Assembly in 1971 has solved once and for all the issue of China’s representation in the UN in political, legal and procedural terms. The system, agencies and the Secretariat of the UN should abide by the one-China principle and UNGA Resolution 2758. As a province of China, Taiwan is not qualified to join the UN at all. Practice over the years fully shows that the UN and the vast number of its member states recognize that there is only one China in the world and Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’s territory, and they fully respect China’s exercise of sovereignty over Taiwan.
“Third, the UNGA Resolution 2758 embodies the legal facts recognized by the international community. It is there in black and white and allows no denial or distortion by the Taiwan authorities and anyone. “Taiwan independence” in all forms are doomed to fail. The moves of hyping up this issue by certain individual in Taiwan constitute a flagrant challenge and serious provocation of the one-China principle, and a blatant violation of the UNGA Resolution 2758. We firmly reject such typical “Taiwan independence” rhetoric which will garner no support in the world.”
– global bihari bureau
