Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Joseph Wu spoke with VOA State Department Bureau Chief Nike Ching in a recent exclusive interview on the prospect of a dialogue between China and Taiwan during an upcoming APEC economic summit, implications of the in-person meeting between U.S. President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping during the G-20 summit, and the possibility of a meeting between U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris and founder of Taiwan’s semiconductor industry, Morris Chang.
The following are excerpts from the skype interview. They have been edited for brevity and clarity.
VOA: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company founder Morris Chang will represent Taiwan, for the sixth time, at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders’ Summit in Bangkok. People’s Republic of China President Xi Jinping will also be at the summit. Is Taiwan open to talks with China without preconditions?
Wu: The APEC is an occasion for all leaders from the APEC economies to get together. There will be plenty of opportunities for the leaders or the leaders' representatives to encounter each other in a very natural way. We don't have any set appointment to talk with him [Xi Jinping], but if there's an opportunity to interact, naturally, we would not reject it.
VOA: There have been no substantial government-to-government talks for years. What are the hurdles?
Wu: The Chinese side does not seem to be interested in speaking with Taiwan, or open for dialogues. We have been calling on China for dialogues to resolve the differences between the two sides, and also to safeguard peace and stability in this region. But the Chinese [government] has been setting very high bars for any kind of official contacts between the two sides. They asked Taiwan to accept "one country, two systems" model; that is something that the Taiwan side cannot accept at all. If you have public opinion surveys on this question here in Taiwan, you will find absolute majority of the Taiwanese people reject that.
VOA: In 2018, Morris Chang had a pull-aside with then-U.S. Vice President Mike Pence on the margins of APEC in Papua New Guinea. Given the precedent, is Morris Chang meeting with current U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, who will represent the U.S. at APEC this year?
Wu: The APEC meetings, especially in the Economic Leaders' Summit, is an opportunity for the leaders to encounter each other. Whether it's going to be a formal meeting or pull-aside, there are all kinds of precedents.
We do not rule out any kind of opportunity for the president's (Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen’s) representative Morris Chang to meet with the U.S. representative, which is going to be the vice president of the United States. We are trying to make appointments with some of the leaders who are coming to APEC this time around. We hope that we will have an opportunity for Morris Chang to meet with Vice President Harris.
VOA: What is your message to PRC for this type of meeting?
Wu: The meeting between our APEC representative and the senior officials from the United States participating in the APEC leaders meeting is a very natural way for the two sides to encounter with each other. This is a long-established precedent in the APEC official meetings or leaders' meetings. I certainly hope that the Chinese won't take that as an exception because this is already a long-established tradition of the APEC leaders' meetings.
VOA: U.S. President Joe Biden is very likely to meet bilaterally with PRC President Xi Jinping at G-20 Summit. Do you see open lines of communication between the United States and China conducive to peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait?
Wu: Yes, of course. For China right now, we can understand that China has been threatening Taiwan militarily and trying to isolate Taiwan internationally. They refuse to speak with Taiwan's officials. Therefore, this is a condition or a situation for the international leaders to think about how to resolve the differences between Taiwan and China, and to establish an environment that is conducive to peace and stability in this region.
If the senior leaders or the president, the vice president of the United States are able to speak with the Chinese leaders to address the concerns about the peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait or China's violation of the status quo, I think it's going to be very helpful to regional peace.
And, of course, there's been no official contact between Taiwan and China for quite some time. If the United States is able to talk to the Chinese side some of the concerns on the Taiwanese side, that will be very helpful to Taiwan as well.
We hope that through the high-level dialogue between the United States and China, the two sides would be able to speak with each other, and to understand each other more and to formulate an environment that is more conducive to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, in the Indo Pacific, and around the world.
VOA: Do you agree with the U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken's assessment that PRC is determined to bring Taiwan under its control, possibly by force, on a much faster timeline?
Wu: We share the same sense of urgency on the situation across the Taiwan Strait. Of course China has been threatening Taiwan militarily for quite some time. If you look at their military preparations or military exercises in this region: In 2020, they have sent 380 sorties to violate our air defense identification zones. Last year, their sorties went up to 970, violating our air defense identification zones. And for this year, in August and September alone, there are already more than 2,000 sorties. Therefore, the Chinese military threat against Taiwan is not only real, but also intensified.
Under these kinds of circumstances, we need to continue to caution China that the use of military force against Taiwan is not conducive to peace and stability in this region and is not going to be welcomed.
The status quo across the Taiwan Strait serves the best interests of all parties concerned.
