Wu said security pacts like those between the United States, Australia and Japan and the new AUKUS partnership between Australia, Britain and the US serve to deter China from becoming even more aggressive in the region.
On Taiwan’s relationship with the US, Wu said he was confident Taipei will continue to have “very close” ties with Washington no matter who wins the November US presidential election.
Wu, who once described his work as “probably the most difficult foreign minister job in the world”, will leave his post after six years and return to a previous job as secretary-general of the National Security Council. He will be replaced by presidential aide Lin Chia-lung.
The outgoing diplomat said the Taiwan foreign minister job still comes with plenty of challenges.
China bars its diplomatic partners from having formal exchanges with Taipei, and during Tsai’s years in office, Beijing poached several of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies, bringing the remaining number down to 12.
Despite the losses, Wu has worked to improve unofficial ties with European and Asian nations and the US, which remains Taiwan’s strongest unofficial ally and is bound by law to provide the island with the means to defend itself.
Delegations from several European countries have visited Taiwan in recent years and Lithuania opened a trade representative office – a de facto embassy – in Taipei.
Wu said European nations have become more sympathetic to Taiwan’s cause and more cautious of China due to a series of factors including China’s actions in the South China Sea, its human rights crackdowns in Hong Kong and Xinjiang and Beijing’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Nobody should be … thinking that they are immune from authoritarian influence,” Wu said.
