• Yuqing: Taiwan part of China, fly path benefits both sides of Strait

The very existence of Taiwan has demonstrated that with or without diplomatic relations, Taiwan stands firm, says the representative, Taipei Trade office in Nigeria, Andy Yih-Ping Liu.

Liu said its democratically elected president would be sworn into office on May 20, stressing that Taiwan is standing strong and up against any bully or threat from China.

“The Chinese will not like to see that, they want the world to see Taiwan as an island attached to China, but it is not. So, we would like to see the rest of the world view Taiwan as a trustworthy partner.

“At the same time, we are a legitimate government with our own constitution and the right to elect a president. So, we are no different from any other country who have been protecting their own national interest and democratic systems,” he said during a short discussion with selected diplomatic journalists in Lagos.

On their plan to expand diplomatic relations across the globe, Liu said Taiwan will continue to reach out to countries that share similar democratic values, adding that though their neighbour have been threatening and bullying other nations to avoid them, it is up to those nations to take their decisions.

As long as other countries see Taiwan as an equal, strong economic and development partner, Liu said his country would always reciprocate.
He explained that by successfully conducting its election early this year and hoping to handover on May 20, it demonstrates that the nation is a sovereign state.

His words: “So, we cannot challenge other countries to give us diplomatic recognition, but we hope that having a democratically elected president and the fact that the new government will be sworn in soon, demonstrate to the rest of the world that we are a sovereign state.”

Calling on the international community to pressurise China to return to the normal flight path, Liu said both nations have been separated for more than half a century with mutual respect until their neighbours began to display aggressive tendencies.

“Chinese are taking a more aggressive attitude, single handedly changing some of the flight paths. So, we want to alert and remind the world that this has to change to strengthen the security of international flights on that corridor.

“It is not just Taiwan that is being affected, it can actually have an impact on the flight to Korea or to south east Asia or to any part of the world because in Taiwan or within the east Asia region, the flight routes are so popular.

“So any slight change of the regional flight routes will have a huge influence on the airlines. So, we call on the international community to pay more attention to the changing of flight paths by the Chinese and we really hope that the Chinese will not interfere with anything like that anymore and put everything back to its original state,” he said.

On the challenges likely to face the new government, he said his country is facing a generational challenge owing to the unwillingness of their youths to get married or procreate.

Liu said energy, technological improvements and trade competitiveness may be some of the issues that will face the new government.

“Our birth rate is really low, so our government has asked us to encourage our new generation to get married, to get more children, to build a stronger workforce and then to have our aging population to be well taken care of.”

“Health and welfare could be another challenge. So each government has its own challenges, but I think the new government will seriously need to plan on how to encourage young people to get married and have children. Such will promote sustainability and development.

On the issue of energy, Liu said the Island nation has no natural resources, except its human capital, adding that its energy policy would be properly examined.

“As an island of no natural resources, we need to be extra careful in securing our energy and our power supply to everybody in the island, and the good thing about it is that our high technological development has been so popular and welcomed by the rest of the world.”

“So, how to keep the competitiveness of our technology and to build more operation between Taiwan and other countries in developing well applied technology by electrical cars or solar energy or any other way that would help Taiwaneses in that competitiveness, are our challenge, because we need to have good industrial strength to keep our development,” he said, adding that energy and technical know-how are key to sustained development.

But the Chinese Consular General in Lagos, Ms Yan Yuqing, responding to the issues, said the M503 flight path is connecting routes W122 and W123 from west to east and has been activated since April 19.

She said the decision is aimed at relieving the pressure on the growth in flight numbers across the immediate regions, ensuring flight safety, reducing flight delays, and safeguarding the rights and interests of passengers, which benefits both sides of the Straits.

“The M503 route is located within the Shanghai Flight Information Region, and the establishment and operation of this route is a routine task of the mainland’s civil aviation airspace management.

“And since the cancellation of the flight offset measure for the M503 route, overall operation safety has been stable, effectively improving cross-Straits flight operations, and further facilitating personnel exchanges between the two sides,” she told The Guardian.

On the issue of bullying and pressuring other nations to shun diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Yuqing maintained that Taiwan is not a country but part of China.

She said: “We want to stress that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’s territory and the Taiwan question is entirely China’s internal affairs that brooks no foreign interference.

“The key to keeping the Taiwan Strait peaceful and stable lies in upholding the one-China principle and firmly opposing separatist moves toward “Taiwan independence.”