We are protecting freedom and democracy from authoritarianism: Taiwan's foreign minister to WION

Joseph Wu, the Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Republic of China (Taiwan) spoke to WION about an array of things ranging from international recognition of Taiwan, China’s aggression, US support to Taiwan, and the potential friendships for the country.

While speaking about democracy and the need to preserve it, Wu said: “Taiwan is a democracy, and proud to be a democracy… Chinese authoritarianism is trying to make an outward expansion. We protect ourselves, and our sovereignty, and protect our own territory. We are also trying to protect freedom and democracy… from being overrun by authoritarianism”. 

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When asked which countries he thinks would stand up for Taiwan, Wu said. “Taiwan is our country. Taiwan government and military has the sole responsibility of defending our own country. We have said it again and again - the government, the people are determined to defend themselves. That is why we spend more on our military, and try to buy more weapons for our own protection. And we try to train our military according to modern principles. This is our way of showing to the international community that Taiwan is determined to protect itself”, he said.

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US has increased its presence in the region, and this is what Wu had to say about it.  “If we are not able to protect ourselves, we have no right to ask other countries to provide support to Taiwan… But I do see the United States has been making its presence known in the region. They have shown to other countries in this part of the world that their Navy, and their Air Force is here to deter the aggression.”

Joseph Wu shed light on the need for Taiwan to build more friendships and gather trust in the international community to effectively counter Chinese aggression. “We need to be very careful. We need to build more friendship with other countries, and India is a country we want to be friends with,” Wu said.  

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“We want to make friends, and we want to make contributions to the international community so that like-minded countries understand that Taiwan is a force for good in the world”, the leader added. 

On the country’s newly found global recognition, Wu said: “We are seeing more and more countries willing to come out and speak for Taiwan. It’s not just the United States or Japan. Now, there are more European countries; Australia, New Zealand, Canada… We have hope Taiwan will become part of the World Health Organization or in the UN system in the future.”