President Tsai Ing-wen called a meeting of high-level national security officials on Tuesday. The officials met to analyze government agencies’ responses to both trends in regional security and the COVID-19 pandemic. Afterwards, Tsai spoke about some of the conclusions from the meeting.
Firstly, she spoke about the state of Taiwan-US relations. She said ties with the US are continuing to develop in a stable manner.
She also discussed the situation in the South China Sea, which she said has moved beyond a cross-strait issue into a regional and even global issue. She said Taiwan will continue strengthening its ability to defend itself and its ability to respond to any new forms of military provocation.
She reiterated Taiwan’s policy of not bowing to external pressure and not acting rashly. She expressed hope that cross-strait exchanges can return to normal after the COVID-19 pandemic runs its course. She said that Taiwan remains willing to hold meaningful dialogue with Beijing provided that Beijing drops its antagonistic stance towards Taiwan.
Tsai also said that Taiwan plans to purchase stocks of COVID-19 vaccine from multiple foreign manufacturers while continuing work on vaccines of its own.