Tokyo [Japan], July 29 : Taiwan on Sunday welcomed the Japan-US Security Consultative Committee (SCC) (Japan-US "2+2") joint statement which pointed out that China is attempting to reshape the international order for its benefit.
"Japan and the US highlighted that the PRC employs political, economic, and military coercion of countries, companies, and civil society, as well as facilitates its military modernization through the diversion of technology to achieve these objectives. Japan and the US shared the understanding that such behaviour is a serious concern to the Alliance and the entire international community and represents the greatest strategic challenge in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond," read the press release of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan.
The meeting was attended by Kamikawa Yoko, Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Kihara Minoru, Minister of Defense, from the Japanese side, and Antony Blinken, Secretary of State, and Lloyd Austin, Secretary of Defense, from the US side.
The joint statement reiterated that maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is indispensable to the security and prosperity of the international community, and urged the peaceful resolution of cross-strait issues.
"The United States, Japan and the international community are deeply concerned about this and regard it as the biggest strategic challenge in the Indo-Pacific region," added the release.
Japan and the US reiterated their strong opposition to the People's Republic of China's (PRC) intensifying attempts to unilaterally change the status quo by force or coercion in the East China Sea, including through actions that seek to undermine Japan's longstanding and peaceful administration of the Senkaku Islands, as well as escalatory behaviour around the Southwest Islands.
Japan and the US recognized that their basic positions on Taiwan remain unchanged, and reiterated the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait as an indispensable element of security and prosperity in the international community and encouraged the peaceful resolution of cross-Strait issues.
Taiwan welcomed the regulation and expressed gratitude to the US and Japan for their attention to peace in the Taiwan Strait.
"Currently, authoritarian countries continue to expand outward and attempt to challenge the rules-based global order, which has caused instability in the international situation. As a responsible member of the Indo-Pacific region, Taiwan will continue to deepen cooperation with like-minded partners such as the United States and Japan to jointly defend the common values of freedom, democracy and the rule of law, and safeguard peace, stability and prosperity across the Taiwan Strait and the Indo-Pacific region," read the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Taiwan statement.
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