On February 20, 2025, Taiwan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Joseph Wu, stated that authoritarian expansionism has posed a threat to global peace and prosperity, emphasizing the importance of democratic countries strengthening their partnerships with each other.
Minister Joseph Wu gave his remarks at the opening ceremony of the “Taiwan-Canada Indo-Pacific Regional Security Forum” on the 18th, welcoming scholars from various countries to Taiwan to engage in academic discussions on Indo-Pacific security.
In recent years, authoritarian expansionism has endangered global peace, prosperity, and the rules-based international order. Minister Wu stressed the importance of democratic countries strengthening their partnerships. Recent actions like Canadian warships navigating through the Taiwan Strait and the joint statement by the foreign ministers of the United States, Japan, and South Korea in Munich reaffirming the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait demonstrate like-minded countries’ commitment to upholding freedom, openness, and security in the Indo-Pacific region through concrete actions.
Minister Joseph Wu emphasized that in a world where countries focus on building supply chain resilience, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will implement a “comprehensive diplomacy” strategy to carry out President Lai Ching-te’s concept of “value diplomacy,” seeking opportunities to collaborate with likeminded partners to collectively promote regional peace, stability, and prosperity.
Additionally, during the opening ceremony, Ding Shih-tong, Vice President of National Taiwan University, and Jim Nickel, representative of the Canadian Trade Office in Taipei, delivered speeches.
The inaugural “Taiwan-Canada Indo-Pacific Regional Security Forum” aims to enhance academic exchanges and interactions between Taiwan, Canada, and like-minded countries in the Indo-Pacific region, as well as increase understanding of security issues in the Taiwan Strait and Indo-Pacific region among democratic countries in the region. Minister Joseph Wu and Canadian representative Jim Nickel both expressed their hope that this forum will continue in the future, becoming an important platform for academic exchanges and dialogue between Taiwan and Canada.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Taiwan stated that this event was co-organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Canadian Trade Office in Taipei, National Taiwan University, the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, and the University of Calgary in Canada. Experts and scholars from Canada, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, and Singapore were invited to Taiwan for academic exchanges on regional security issues, including regional security, economic security, and maritime security.