Taiwan urges alliance against 'aggressive actions' to curb China's intrusion

TaiwanPresident Tsai Ing-wen called on Tuesday for anallianceof democracies to defendagainst"aggressive actions" and protect freedom, alluding to Chinese actions in the SouthChinaSea andTaiwanStrait as major threats to regional stability.

China, which claims democraticTaiwanas its own, has ramped up its military activities around the island, as well as in the disputed East and SouthChinaSeas.

Speaking in Taipei at a forum attended by topTaiwanese security officials and senior Western diplomats, Tsai saidTaiwanstood at the forefront of defending democracy from "authoritarian aggression".

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WhileTaiwanis committed to boosting its defensive capabilities, maintaining regional peace and security needs collaborative efforts, she added.

"The rapid militarisation of the SouthChinaSea, increasing and frequent grey-zone tactics in theTaiwanStrait and EastChinaSea, coercive diplomacy usedagainstcountries and corporations...are all destabilising the Indo-Pacific region," Tsai said, without directly namingChina.

"It is time for like-minded countries, and democratic friends in the Indo-Pacific region and beyond, to discuss a framework to generate sustained and concerted efforts to maintain a strategic order that deters unilateral aggressive actions."

She called for a strategy that avoided war, yet conveyed the resolve to protect democracies by encouraging cooperation, transparency and problem-solving through dialogue.

Chinahas stepped up pressure onTaiwanto accept its sovereignty over the island, which has responded by seeking closer ties with what it calls "like-minded" democracies.

This is primarily the United States, but also includes Australia, Britain, Canada, the European Union and Japan, none of which maintain formal diplomatic ties withTaiwan.

Apart from the United States,Taiwan's main arms supplier, the other nations generally only offer occasional moral support, such as calling for the World Health Organization to grant proper access to non-memberTaiwan.