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Taiwan will work to ensure peace, Tsai tells French and Australian visitors days after record Chinese PLA sorties

  • Taiwan ‘very moved’ that French senators led by Alain Richard visited despite ‘pressure’, President Tsai Ing-wen says in a reference to Beijing
  • Meeting Tsai next, former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott notes how Taiwan is ‘challenged on an almost daily basis by its giant neighbour’

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Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen greets French Senator Alain Richard, at the presidential office in Taipei on Thursday. Photo: AFP
Taiwan will ensure regional peace and stability and seeks to work with other like-minded democracies, President Tsai Ing-wen told senior French and Australian dignitaries on Thursday, days after a dramatic spike in tensions with mainland China.
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The trips by four French senators and former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott come after four straight days of massed People’s Liberation Army sorties into Taiwan’s air defence zone starting last Friday, in moves met with concern by Washington and its allies.

Democratically ruled Taiwan has sought support from other democracies, especially the United States and its allies, amid growing military and political pressure from mainland China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory.

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Taiwan denounces mainland China for ‘over the top’ flights into island’s air defence zone

Taiwan denounces mainland China for ‘over the top’ flights into island’s air defence zone
Speaking at the presidential office to the French senators led by former defence minister Alain Richard, Tsai thanked France for its concern about the situation in the Taiwan Strait and support for Taipei’s international participation.

“We will continue to fulfil our responsibilities as members of the international community to ensure peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region. We also hope to make more contributions to the world along with France,” she added.

Richard discussed the “essential contribution of Taiwan in the important field of human progress” but did not mention the rising military tensions – in remarks carried live on the presidential office’s Facebook page.
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Tsai gave a similar message in later remarks to Abbott, who told her he was in Taiwan to help end its international isolation, praising its democracy and handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott meets President Tsai Ing-wen in Taipei. Photo: AP
Former Australian prime minister Tony Abbott meets President Tsai Ing-wen in Taipei. Photo: AP
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