Month: April 2025

Source: Hong Kong Information Services

The Government today appealed to the public to stay vigilant when it comes to a forged video created by artificial intelligence circulating online about an investment plan purportedly recommended by the Chief Executive.

 

The fake video claimed that the Chief Executive urged the public to participate in an investment with high returns.

 

In addition to solemnly clarifying that the so-called remarks by the Chief Executive are fictitious, the Government strongly condemned those who have attempted to distribute fake investment advice in the name of the Chief Executive.

 

The incident has been referred to Police for a follow-up investigation, it added.

Source: Republic of China Taiwan

MOFA response to Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hayashi expressing concern over China’s military exercises around Taiwan

Date：2025-04-02
Data Source：TAIWAN-JAPAN RELATIONS ASSOCIATION

April 2, 2025  

At a regular press conference on April 1, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi stated that peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait were paramount to Japan and the entire international community. Mr. Hayashi made the comments while addressing China’s military drills around Taiwan, stating that Japan had reaffirmed its position to China during a recent bilateral meeting between their foreign ministers. He emphasized that the Japanese government would continue to closely monitor developments arising from China’s increasing military activities around the Taiwan Strait in recent years and added that Japan would make comprehensive response preparations. 
 
When China twice launched Joint Sword-2024 military exercises targeting Taiwan last year, unilaterally raising tensions across the Taiwan Strait, the government of Japan promptly and directly expressed its misgivings and concerns to China. Following China’s latest military drills around the Taiwan Strait, Japan has once again immediately conveyed its concerns to China and publicly emphasized the importance of cross-strait peace and stability.
 
Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung affirms and appreciates the Japanese government for immediately and openly expressing concern following China’s launch of military exercises designed to intimidate Taiwan, as well as for emphasizing a consistent stance on preserving peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) strongly urges China to return to reason, exercise self-restraint, and immediately cease unilateral actions that are detrimental to cross-strait peace and regional stability and prosperity. MOFA is pleased that the United States, Japan, and other democratic nations, as well as the European Union, are steadfastly and jointly adopting preventive measures to counter the threat that authoritarian expansion poses to global peace and stability. Taiwan will demonstrate its determination to strengthen resilience and self-defense capabilities and resist China’s rhetorical and military intimidation. It will also cooperate with like-minded partners to ensure peace, stability, and prosperity across the Taiwan Strait and throughout the Indo-Pacific.

Source: Republic of China Taiwan

MOFA response to social media post by German Foreign Office expressing concern over China’s military exercises around Taiwan

Date：2025-04-04
Data Source：Department of European Affairs

April 4, 2025

On April 2, the Federal Foreign Office of Germany posted a message on the social media platform X pointing out that China’s military exercises around Taiwan had increased tensions and were a cause of concern. It stated that stability in the Taiwan Strait was paramount for regional and global security and also affected prosperity in Europe. The Foreign Office underlined that the status quo could only be changed through peaceful means and by mutual agreement, and not by force or coercion.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung sincerely thanks the government of Germany for its continued attention to cross-strait peace and stability and for this further expression of concern over China’s military drills. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs underscores that Taiwan, as a responsible member of the international community, will continue to work with like-minded partners to jointly defend the rules-based international order. It joins other nations in calling on China to exercise self-restraint, stop threatening Taiwan, and cease its unilateral attempts to escalate regional tensions. 

Source: Republic of China Taiwan

MOFA response to statements by Australia, New Zealand foreign ministries concerning China’s military exercises around Taiwan

Date：2025-04-03
Data Source：Department of East Asian and Pacific Affairs

April 3, 2025The Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade released a statement on April 3 indicating its deep concern over China’s military exercises around Taiwan. On the same day, the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade also expressed its concern on X. In its statement, Australia said that it strongly opposed actions that increased the risk of miscalculation and escalation. It reaffirmed that such military exercises were disproportionate and destabilizing, adding that it had raised its concerns with China. Meanwhile, New Zealand called on China to exercise restraint and avoid actions that undermine peace and stability. Both countries expressed their opposition to attempts to unilaterally change the status quo and called for the two sides of the Taiwan Strait to resolve their differences through dialogue, not through the threat or use of force or coercion.Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung welcomes these statements and thanks Australia, New Zealand, and all peace-loving countries for continuing to pay close attention to the security situation across the Taiwan Strait. He reiterates that cross-strait peace and stability are in line with the world’s interests and are of extraordinary importance to the international community.MOFA stresses that Taiwan, as a responsible member of the international community, will continue to work with like-minded countries to jointly uphold the rules-based international order and safeguard peace, stability, and prosperity across the Taiwan Strait and in the Indo-Pacific region.
 

Source: Republic of China Taiwan

MOFA response to social media posts by Global Affairs Canada expressing concern over China’s military exercises around Taiwan

Date：2025-04-03
Data Source：Department of North American Affairs

April 3, 2025Global Affairs Canada issued statements on the social media platforms X and Facebook on April 2 expressing Canada’s deep concern over China’s recent military exercises around Taiwan. The statements emphasized that these threatening actions increased regional tensions and instability and affected global security and prosperity. Canada urged China to resolve cross-strait differences by peaceful means.Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung thanks Canada for reaffirming its support of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and for opposing the use of force or coercion to change the status quo, as well as for explicitly stating that China’s threats to Taiwan and regional security undermine the status quo.Since Canada issued its Indo-Pacific Strategy in November 2022, it has dispatched naval ships to transit the Taiwan Strait six times, repeatedly demonstrating its staunch determination to maintain peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait through concrete action. In the face of relentless harassment by China, the Taiwan government will continue to strengthen its self-defense capabilities and bolster cooperation with allied nations to jointly safeguard the rules-based international order. Taiwan calls on all countries to express concern about China’s attempts at gray-zone coercion, including military threats and lawfare targeting Taiwan, and to condemn unilateral actions by China that escalate regional tensions.

Source: Republic of China Taiwan

April 3, 2025The European Parliament on April 2 voted overwhelmingly to adopt resolutions on annual reports on the implementation of the European Union Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP). The resolutions once again reiterated concern over China’s escalation of tensions across the Taiwan Strait and expressed support for further deepening comprehensive Taiwan-EU cooperation and exchanges. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) sincerely welcomes and appreciates these resolutions.The CFSP resolution pointed out that the center of gravity in the global order was shifting towards the Indo-Pacific and that the European Union must strengthen its active role and presence in the region to safeguard peace, freedom, and stability and uphold the rules-based international order. It stated that Taiwan was a key democratic partner for the European Union in the Indo-Pacific region and urged the European Union and its member states to engage in closer cooperation with Taiwan in order to further boost economic, trade, and investment ties. The resolution also encouraged the European Commission to launch, without delay, preparatory measures for negotiations on an investment agreement with Taiwan.Furthermore, the European Parliament strongly condemned China’s continued military provocations against Taiwan and China’s continuous distortion of UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 aimed at blocking Taiwan’s meaningful international participation. It stressed that China’s territorial claims over Taiwan had no basis in international law and that only Taiwan’s democratically elected government could represent the Taiwanese people. The European Parliament called on the European Union and its member states to ensure, through clear and consistent signaling, that any attempt to unilaterally change the status quo across the Taiwan Strait, particularly by means of force or coercion, could not be accepted and would have high costs. It also urged the European Commission and EU member states to formulate a coordinated response strategy to the situation across the Taiwan Strait and to regularly provide impact assessments to the European Parliament concerning the latest developments. Meanwhile, the CSDP resolution strongly condemned hostile acts conducted by China against Taiwan, including an increasing number of cyberattacks, influence campaigns, the entry of Chinese warplanes into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone, and the severing of subsea cables. It reaffirmed the European Union’s strong commitment to preserving the status quo across the Taiwan Strait, lauded the restraint and disciplined reaction of the Taiwan government, and called on China to exercise restraint and avoid any actions that may further escalate cross-strait tensions. The resolution also underlined the strategic significance of the Indo-Pacific region within the European Union’s defense framework and urged awareness of Taiwan’s leading role in high-tech development and extensive experience defending itself against China’s hybrid attacks and disinformation. It called for regular exchanges between the European Union and Taiwan on relevant security issues, as well as for Taiwan and the European Union to share information about incidents related to the severing of undersea cables. It added that Taiwan should be a key part of the European Union’s considerations in advancing multilateral cooperation and capacity building in the Indo-Pacific. In a gesture of great significance, the European Parliament on October 24 last year overwhelmingly voted in favor of a resolution on the misinterpretation of UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 by the People’s Republic of China and its continuous military provocations around Taiwan. This demonstrated strong consensus and firm support for Taiwan across the various parties of the 10th-term European Parliament. Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung expresses sincere and deep gratitude to the European Parliament for its continued concrete actions in deepening the Taiwan-EU partnership and emphasizing its firm stance on upholding peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. On the excellent foundation of close cooperation that currently exists, Taiwan will continue to advance exchanges with the European Parliament in all areas so as to jointly strengthen democratic resilience and build robust and reciprocal values-based alliances.

Source: Republic of China Taiwan

MOFA response to statement by UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office concerning China’s military exercises around Taiwan

Date：2025-04-03
Data Source：Department of European Affairs

April 3, 2025The United Kingdom Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office released a statement on April 2 indicating its concern over China’s military exercises around Taiwan, underscoring that they increased tensions and risked dangerous escalation in the Taiwan Strait. The statement reaffirmed the United Kingdom’s clear interest in peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, adding that this was critical to global prosperity. It went on to declare that the United Kingdom supported a free and open Indo-Pacific, that the Taiwan issue should be settled by people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait through constructive dialogue and without the threat or use of force or coercion, and that military drills or threats to Taiwan were not conducive to such dialogue. The statement further pointed out that the United Kingdom did not support any attempt at unilaterally changing the status quo, calling for restraint and the avoidance of actions that undermine peace and stability.The UK statement follows those made by the United States, the European Union, and Japan, and is another expression of concern by a major country over China’s military exercises around Taiwan. Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung welcomes the statement and thanks the UK government for continuing to pay close attention to the situation across the Taiwan Strait and for stating clearly that peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait are of global importance. MOFA stresses that Taiwan, as a responsible member of the international community, will continue to work with like-minded partners to jointly safeguard the rules-based international order. Taiwan hopes that the world’s democracies will unite in calling on China to return to reason and restraint and to stop threatening Taiwan and unilaterally increasing regional tensions.

Source: Hong Kong Information Services

The Joint Meeting of Four Expert Groups of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Energy Working Group (EWG) and two associated events are being held in Hong Kong for the first time this week in a schedule running from yesterday until Friday.

Secretary for Environment & Ecology Tse Chin-wan and Director of Electrical & Mechanical Services Poon Kwok-ying spoke at today’s session.

The joint meeting covers energy data and analysis, energy efficiency and conservation, new and renewable energy technologies, and clean fossil energy.

The meeting is being held in conjunction with the APEC Workshop on Promoting Energy Efficiency Enhancement in Electricity Generation and the 8th Oil & Gas Security Network Forum.

Mr Tse highlighted in the meeting that APEC economies consume approximately 60% of the world’s energy, and that energy demand and carbon emissions in the region will continue to rise as the member economies pursue rapid and ongoing economic growth and urbanisation.

This makes it crucial to accelerate the transition to green energy, mitigate climate change risks and ensure energy security and sustainable economic development, he added.

The environment chief also outlined that Hong Kong is striving to achieve carbon neutrality before 2050, and will cease using coal for electricity generation by 2035.

He said that the city is actively implementing decarbonisation measures. This includes planning infrastructure to import more zero-carbon electricity from neighbouring regions, enhancing energy efficiency in buildings, developing green transportation and promoting hydrogen energy development.

Mr Poon spoke about Hong Kong’s energy developments and stressed the importance of maintaining dialogue among APEC members to meet the challenges of climate change.

Source: Republic of China Taiwan

MOFA response to second EU-Japan Strategic Dialogue reaffirming importance of cross-strait peace and stability

Date：2025-04-07
Data Source：Department of European Affairs

April 7, 2025  

European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kaja Kallas and Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs Takeshi Iwaya held the second EU-Japan Strategic Dialogue on April 4 in Brussels. In a statement issued after the meeting, they reaffirmed that peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait were of strategic importance for regional and global security and prosperity. They expressed opposition to any unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force or coercion. In addition, they highlighted the interconnected security environments of Europe and the Indo-Pacific and agreed on the need to maintain close coordination and cooperation on key global and regional foreign policy priorities under the Group of Seven (G7) framework.
 
Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung sincerely welcomes and appreciates the continued concern shown by like-minded partners such as the EU and G7 over peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and in the Indo-Pacific. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasizes that Taiwan will continue to work with democratic partners to uphold the rules-based international order. Taiwan will do its utmost to maintain cross-strait peace and stability and safeguard regional prosperity and development.

Source: Republic of China Taiwan

MOFA response to G7 foreign ministers’ statement on China’s large-scale military drills

Date：2025-04-07
Data Source：Department of North American Affairs

 April 7, 2025 

On April 6, the Group of Seven (G7) foreign ministers and the European Union high representative for foreign affairs and security policy issued a joint statement expressing deep concern about China’s provocative actions, particularly the recent large-scale military drills around Taiwan. They stressed that these increasingly frequent and destabilizing activities were raising cross-strait tensions and putting global security and prosperity at risk. They pointed out that G7 members and the larger international community had an interest in the preservation of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. The G7 members said they opposed any unilateral actions that threatened peace and stability, including the use of force or coercion. They also continued to encourage the peaceful resolution of issues through constructive cross-strait dialogue.
 
Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung sincerely thanks the G7 foreign ministers for again taking concrete action to voice concern over China’s recent provocative large-scale military exercises. The latest pronouncement follows a joint statement supporting cross-strait peace and stability after the G7 foreign ministers’ meeting in Quebec this March. These actions underscore the international consensus on maintaining the status quo across the Taiwan Strait and the fact that cross-strait peace and stability are indispensable to global security and prosperity. As a responsible member of the international community, Taiwan will continue to work with democratic partners to jointly safeguard peace, stability, and prosperity in the region and across the Taiwan Strait.