Taiwan President Warns of China’s Ambition for Global Hegemony at UN Meeting

“China’s threat to Taiwan is a threat to the entire international community,“ Lai said. ”China doesn’t just want to change the status quo in the Taiwan Strait. It intends to change the rules-based international order and achieve international hegemony.”
Taiwan withdrew from the United Nations in 1971 after the U.N. General Assembly passed Resolution 2758, which handed Taiwan’s U.N. seat to China. Since then, the self-ruled island has been excluded from formal participation in U.N. meetings and activities because of Beijing’s opposition.
Lai said the Chinese regime has been distorting Resolution 2758 in support of its “one China principle,” falsely claiming that the document gives Beijing the right to claim sovereignty over Taiwan and that the island has no right to participate in the U.N. system and other international forums.
The president thanked the United States and the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) for taking action to oppose Beijing’s interpretations of the resolution.
“Taiwan’s exclusion from the WHO and WHA undermines the WHO’s mission to build a healthier future for the global community,” the letter reads.
The senators also said Beijing had tried to use the resolution “as a pretext to obstruct Taiwan’s engagement with the international community.”
Lai pointed out that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been escalating its aggression in the Indo-Pacific, causing instability in the rules-based international order.
“We have seen China intensifying its military intimidation in the Taiwan Strait and the East and South China Seas. Through its use of gray-zone tactics such as economic coercion and cognitive warfare, China poses serious threats to global peace and stability,” Lai said.
“Our sincere hope is for Taiwan and other democratic nations to jointly support the democratic umbrella and counter authoritarian aggression as we navigate a new era in global democratic development,” Lai said.
“Taiwan is certainly a beacon for freedom and democracy, not just in the region but around the world,” Krach said.
“It dispels [Xi’s] myth that the Chinese culture cannot live and thrive within a democracy, so he wants it destroyed.”
Yui said the CCP believes that Taiwan’s freedom and democracy threaten its legitimacy.
Yui also pointed out that China’s domestic security spending is higher than its military budget, meaning that the CCP sees the citizens as its biggest enemy.
Yui said that as countries advance their technology, it is important that the democratic side takes the lead.
“Trust in technology is very important,” Yui said. “It’s so important for us, the democratically like-minded countries, to make sure … the technology that we hold and we’re developing is always a step ahead or many steps ahead of the other side.
“We use it to enhance, to better human livelihoods; the other side uses it to control its people.”
Yui said that Taiwan plays an indispensable role in advancing technology worldwide, given the country’s leadership in producing semiconductors. According to Yui, Taiwan produces about 60 percent of the world’s semiconductors and 92 percent of the world’s advanced semiconductors.
“To talk about the future—which is technology—without incorporating Taiwan is like going [to] downtown New York in Little Italy and getting a cannoli without its filling,” Yui said. “If you’re talking about the future without Taiwan, you will be left behind.”
After the session, reporters asked Yui whether Taiwan had any concerns about the outcome of the U.S. presidential election in November. In response, Yui said that Taiwan enjoys strong bipartisan support in Congress.
Yui said the outcome will not change the level of U.S. support for Taiwan amid the ongoing threats the Chinese regime poses to the United States.