Minister promises more proactive foreign policyBy Huang Ching-ting and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writerTaiwan is to pursue and expand ties with like-minded countries to counter Beijing’s poaching, rather than reactively defending existing relationships with diplomatic allies, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said earlier this month. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is making a pivot from a “defensive” diplomatic strategy to an “offensive” one, emphasizing developing links with old and new friends, he said. Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung speaks in an online show of the Liberty Times (sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) on Dec. 11. Photo: Huang Yun-hsuan, Taipei TimesThat is because the former strategy of passively guarding existing ties against China’s overtures has resulted in a steady loss of diplomatic allies, Lin said. The EU legislative body’s adaptation of the text denouncing the resolution’s misinterpretation stemmed from the ministry’s years of work with the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, Lin said.
