The “Ketagalan Forum-2020 Asia-Pacific Security Dialogue” organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Taipei, and the National Defense Security Research Institute was successfully wrapped in Taiwan yesterday with a number of officials, scholars and experts from regional countries discussing the current traditional and non-traditional security challenges faced by the wider Indo-Pacific region.
Attendees – in person or by video, highlighted Taiwan’s intent to help like-minded nations elsewhere in the region in order to help resolve problems facing the international community through dialogue and not through conflict.
The former White House National Security Advisor HR McMaster, a former Lt.Gen in the U.S. Army was also invited as a keynote speaker on the first day of the forum, where he spoke about “Geopolitical Change in the Post-Pandemic Era: Clashes in Asia-Pacific Security”.
In his video speech, from the U.S., McMaster echoed calls from President Tsai to boost Taiwan’s defensive capabilities.
The forum included discussions on; “Stability and Turbulence: Security in the Taiwan Strait”, “South China Sea: Arena of Power”, “Revelations from the Novel Coronavirus: Building Future Global Public Health Cooperation”, and “Trans-Pacific Partnership under Global Economic Changes”
A total of 14 countries joined the conversation by way of video or Internet link from around the globe, including over 20 ambassadors or national representatives currently based in Taiwan where more than two hundred were able to attend in person thanks to Taiwan’s largely successful containing of the COVID-19 coronavirus over the past few months.
