On the afternoon of October 21st, Taiwan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Joseph Wu was interviewed by Palki Sharma, host of the Radio Talk program on India’s WION television station.
Mr. Wu, the prominent face of Taiwan in overseas diplomatic circles said that the Chinese assault on a Taiwanese diplomat at a reception put on by Taiwan’s representative office in Fiji to mark Taiwan’s annual National Day festivities has disgusted people around Taiwan.
The attack also made headlines around the world, bringing to the fore China’s ongoing efforts to intimidate and the island nation.
The Minister also called on the international community to appreciate Taiwan’s democratic values as a ‘front-line guardian’ (against China), and discussed related issues including China’s military threats and totalitarian expansion ambitions.
Mr. Wu went on to touch on Taiwan’s bilateral cooperation with India – an issue a day later making headlines based on claims that no FTA is in the offing between Taipei and New Delhi any time soon .
India’s own ongoing border disputes with China, and Beijing’s wider military expansion aspirations in east Asia, and the South China Sea, were also discussed.
On a more positive note Wu promoted Taiwan’s wishes to work with countries such as India to help best counter Chinese efforts to provoke, saying Taiwan will be careful to deal with the cross-strait situation as is, and to avoid having China use Taiwan as a “scapegoat” in the face of internal rule problems Beijing faces on the home front as a result of trade conflicts, virus outbreaks and natural disasters.
Specific to India he stressed that Taiwan’s south bound policy offers opportunities for improved Taiwan-India bilateral ties in fields as varied as the economy, trade cooperation, education, agriculture, science and technology, and health care – possibilities already bearing fruit following the signing of the Taiwan-India Bilateral Investment Agreement two years ago, most notably in the form of overall Taiwanese investments of over US$2.3 billion in the subcontinent, and the creation of around 65,000 jobs.
