Taiwan president warns on China, pushes defence self-reliance

TAIPEI — China's threat to any individual country is a threat to the world, Taiwan President Lai Ching-te said on Tuesday (July 30) , adding that the island will continue to work hard to promote defencive self-reliance and foreign arms purchases.

Taiwan will also work hard to promote regional peace and stability, Lai told a conference in Taipei aimed at coordinating the policies of democratic governments towards China.

China, which views the democratically governed island as its territory, has been staging regular military exercises for years to pressure Taipei to accept Beijing's claim of sovereignty, despite Taiwan's strong objections.

"I'd like to stress that China's threat to any individual country is a threat to the world," Lai told the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) conference in Taipei, a group with ties to an international network of several hundred politicians critical of China.

"Taiwan will do its best to put out a democratic protection umbrella with our democratic partners to keep them away from the threat of authoritarianism."

IPAC said in a statement that eight lawmakers in at least five countries reported receiving emails and phone calls from Chinese officials prior to their departure for Taiwan.

"IPAC deplores and condemns the PRC's attempt to interfere in its annual summit," the group said in a statement, referring to the People's Republic of China. "Democratically elected lawmakers are free to visit and support causes of their choosing. This is the normal exercise of their rights and responsibilities as elected officials."

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