Taiwan's top envoy to the United States said Monday that the self-ruled democratic island needs greater economic integration with the rest of the world to better protect itself from the military threat posed by China.
As part of efforts toward that end, Alexander Tah-ray Yui, speaking at a think tank event in Washington, said Taiwan is very eager to be included in a major trans-Pacific free trade pact that involves countries such as Australia, Canada, Japan, Singapore and Vietnam, but not China or the United States.
The further such integration advances, "the better we are protected against mainland Chinese aggression," said Yui, head of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the United States, at the Wilson Center event.
Yui said that Taiwan, unlike China, is meeting all the requirements to join the high-level trade accord, formally known as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.
To be part of the agreement, from which the United States withdrew before it took effect in 2018, requires the approval of all other members. Last year, Britain became the 12th member of the pact.
In addition to strengthening defense and deterrence capabilities, Yui said it is critical for Taiwan, a major producer of advanced semiconductors, to be recognized by more countries and international organizations to ensure peace and stability around the island, which held presidential and parliamentary elections in January.
The office serves as Taiwan's de facto embassy, as the island, which China considers part of its sovereign territory, has no official diplomatic ties with the United States. Yui, a former Taiwan deputy foreign minister, succeeded Vice President-elect Hsiao Bi-Khim, who resigned in November.
While thanking the United States and other countries including Japan and South Korea for deepening relations with Taiwan, Yui stressed that the potential impacts on the global economy would be "far more reaching than what is happening in Ukraine now" if a conflict involving China occurs in the Taiwan Strait.
"We don't want to create problems. We will not declare independence, but we do want the world to recognize us as who we are," he said. "We have shown the world that we are able to contribute to world betterment in terms of technology, in terms of health (and) in terms of whatever we are able to contribute."
"And President Lai will continue in that pathway very responsibly. That's my message to you," he said, referring to Lai Ching-te, the incumbent Taiwan vice president and head of the ruling, independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party, who will be inaugurated on May 20 following the January elections.
