Taipei [Taiwan], June 15 : Taiwan's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chen Ming-chi, underlined the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, which is not only Taiwan's responsibility, but also an important priority for democracies worldwide.
Speaking at the GLOBSEC forum in Prague, Chen highlighted the lessons learned from Ukraine's experience, noting that international agreements alone are insufficient to guarantee security.
Chen Ming-chi on Friday attended an annual forum by GLOBSEC, a think tank based in Bratislava, and gave a speech on the panel titled: "Taiwan: The Global Imperative for Stability," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement yesterday.
When asked how the Ukraine experience affected Taiwan's approach to national security, self-defence and survival, Chen used a quote often attributed to Mark Twain, saying that "history doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme."
Chen pointed out that the Budapest Memorandum, which guaranteed Ukraine's independence and sovereignty, failed to prevent Russia's invasion. Similarly, while providing a framework for relations, the US-Taiwan Relations Act does not guarantee Taiwan's security.
"The lesson we learn is that paper is not enough," he said, referring to the Budapest Memorandum signed in 1994 to guarantee Ukraine's independence, sovereignty and existing borders, and prevent use of force against the nation, and the US' Taiwan Relations Act passed in 1979.
Taiwan's No. 1 priority is boosting its defence budget as President William Lai has already announced that the nation plans to spend at least 3 per cent of GDP on defence, and it is also reviewing its defence capabilities, he said.
"This is a call to all countries in the free world: If you want peace, you have to prepare for war," he said. "To strengthen yourself and be able to seek peace through strength."
Second, just as Ukraine is facing Russia, a much larger adversary, Taiwan is threatened by China, a larger nation, so Taipei should invest in asymmetric warfare, he said.
Taiwan should cooperate with other countries in drone programs, he added.
Further, Chen Ming-chi stated that the third point, which Taiwan has learned from Ukraine and the Baltic countries, is that it is important to have a whole-of-society resilience program, ranging from energy resilience to reserve mobilisation and civil defence.
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