Foreign Minister Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) has called on the international community to work together to deter war from breaking out in the Taiwan Strait. Wu made the comments during an interview released on Wednesday on the German media organization Deutsche-Welle’s video show “Conflict Zone.”
In the interview, Wu says that if a war were ever to break out, defending Taiwan would be the responsibility of the Taiwanese alone. However, Wu adds that the most important thing for the international community to do is to show their determination to deter the war from happening in the first place. When asked if Taiwan has any “cast-iron assurances” from other countries that they will fight with Taiwan, Wu repeated that Taiwan is responsible for defending itself. Wu said a more likely scenario would be for the US and other countries to provide weapons and ammunition, while the actual fighting will be done by the Taiwanese military. Wu emphasized however that war is preventable and all such scenarios are purely hypothetical.
When asked whether Taiwan is at risk of becoming a “pawn” to be played by China and the US against each other, Wu acknowledged that even some people in Taiwan take this view. However, he says that the two constants that Taiwan lives under are that Taiwan has been threatened by China, and the US is trying to provide support to Taiwan.