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The world is watching, Taiwan’s Tsai Ing-wen tells China in talks offer
- In New Year’s Day speech, Tsai Ing-wen says she hopes for a gradual return to regular people-to-people exchanges with Beijing once pandemic eases
- Tsai might need to be more cautious if the new US administration changes policy, observers say
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With the start of a new US administration less than a month away, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen has stressed the need for cross-strait stability and offered talks with Beijing to end confrontation.
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But the prospects for such talks were low, with Beijing’s continued insistence that Taipei abide by the “one China” principle and abandon any thought of independence, observers said.
In her New Year’s Day address on Friday, Tsai said stable cross-strait relations no longer concerned just the two sides of the Taiwan Strait.
“From a global strategic standpoint, Taiwan is more important than ever,” she said.
“Stabilising relations across the Taiwan Strait is no longer just an issue for the two sides [of the Taiwan Strait]. It is a concern for the whole Indo-Pacific region and has already become a focus of international attention.”
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Taiwan launches domestically produced ‘carrier killer’ corvette to defend against mainland China
Taiwan launches domestically produced ‘carrier killer’ corvette to defend against mainland China
The Taiwan Strait has increasingly become a flashpoint in the region as Beijing – which considers Taiwan its territory – has ramped up pressure on the island.
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