Speech Transcript
This transcription is automatically generated and edited lightly for accuracy.
Thank you, Vice Minister Chen, for that introduction. And thank you for being such a strong defender of Taiwan and partner to America.
I’d also like to thank Dr. Lai for the invitation to speak. You’re doing critical work at the Prospect Foundation, and Taiwan is stronger for your efforts.
Finally, I’d like to acknowledge the former Prime Minister of Slovakia, Eduard Heger. Slovakia, like Taiwan, knows the importance of standing strong against foreign pressure from bigger countries. Prime Minister, we’re honored by your presence.
This is my first trip to Taiwan, and I have to say, I’m amazed by what I’ve seen. I’ve proudly stood with Taiwan for years, especially in my time as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. But nothing could have prepared me for being here.
Taiwan is a place of courage, confidence, and unwavering resolve. The West could learn a lot from you. And today, I’m calling on my country, and free nations everywhere, to follow your example. We need to stand as strong as Taiwan. And we need to stand strong with Taiwan—now more than ever.
We are living in the most dangerous time in decades.
The enemies of freedom are on the march. With few exceptions, the free nations of the West are in retreat. They refuse to maintain, much less improve, their strength. They’re failing their most important job, which is to ensure their people’s security. And sure enough, their lack of leadership has led to crisis after crisis.
Let’s hold a little thought experiment. Think back 10 to 15 years, to the immediate aftermath of the Great Recession. At the time, it was already clear that Communist China, Russia, Iran, and others were preparing for confrontation with the West. Now imagine if the West had recognized that fact, and acted accordingly.
The United States, our European allies, and our Asian allies and partners would have immediately begun rebuilding our militaries. We would have put aside dreams of bigger welfare states in favor of building stronger economies. We would have rallied our friends and allies to stand united. And we would have been honest with our people about the breadth and depth of the threats we face. Far from being a message of despair, it would have been a message of hope. We would have told them that we’re preparing to prevent war and keep a lasting peace.
If we had said that, and if we’d done what we needed to do, the West would be strong today. As a result, our world would be significantly more safe and secure.
If the West was strong, Afghanistan would never have fallen to the Taliban. That country would still be free, and terrorism wouldn’t have a new home base for global attacks.
If the West was strong, Russia would never have invaded Ukraine. The Kremlin would have known that the cost is too high and the chance of victory too low. We would have peace in Eastern Europe—not a two-and-a-half-year war that grinds on without end.
If the West was strong, the Middle East wouldn’t be in flames. Iran would be crippled by economic sanctions and incapable of building a nuclear weapon. Its terrorist proxies wouldn’t have nearly as many rockets or be nearly so aggressive. There would be no attacks on shipping in the Red Sea. Syria and Lebanon could have broken free from Iran’s grasp. And Hamas would not have succeeded with its barbaric massacre on October 7th. They would have been too weak and scared to launch that attack.
Finally, imagine what a strong West would have meant for Asia—and especially Taiwan.
Today, China would be surrounded by free nations with strong forces capable of defeating its aggressive expansion. The Communist Party would’ve thought twice before militarizing the South China Sea. They would’ve stepped back from harassing Vietnam, the Philippines, South Korea, and Japan.
And China’s mistreatment of Taiwan would be vastly diminished. Why? Because the United States and our allies would have Taiwan’s back. This island would not only be safe militarily, but on the world stage, Taiwan would have the full diplomatic and economic support of the free world. China would know that invading Taiwan is not an option. And if it tried, not only would it fail, but the Communist Party would fall.
Imagine if that was the world we lived in today. It could have been, and it should have been. And now, the worst thing we can do is let the next years follow the same path. We can’t afford a continued slide toward weakness and war. The West must launch a historic effort to rebuild our strength. And we have no time to waste.
The first and most important thing we must do is modernize our military.
Nuclear submarines, stealth bombers, and warships can’t be constructed overnight. So we should start building more immediately. In the meantime, we can shift more assets to the Eastern Pacific. And we urgently need to ramp up production of anti-ship and air-defense systems. That includes the cutting-edge technology that’s key for defense, including drones and autonomous weapons.
We also need to launch an immediate economic build-up.
The U.S. should sign a free-trade agreement with Taiwan. That would benefit both of us, while weakening China’s economic leverage. It would take some time to forge even closer economic ties and shift trade routes, so the sooner we start, the better.
Finally, we need a diplomatic blitz.
The United States must elevate Taiwan on the world stage. You should no longer be silenced in global affairs. Given the strength of your freedom and democracy, you should be empowered to speak. When you do, you show the stark contrast with Communist China’s tyranny.
Taiwan has been the victim of a great injustice for more than 50 years. When the United Nations passed Resolution 2758 in 1971, it gave the Communist Party the right to represent China. Ever since, Beijing has claimed that the resolution makes Taiwan a part of China. But it doesn’t. The resolution doesn’t mention Taiwan at all. The U.S. and our allies should have called that out from the start. But instead, Beijing continues to call the shots. Ever since, the Communist Party has successfully shoved Taiwan aside.
I saw this injustice firsthand. From the moment I arrived at the United Nations, I made clear that I would have the backs of America’s friends—and call out our enemies. I backed Israel, Ukraine, and many others. When it came to Taiwan, I was shocked to find out that you aren’t even allowed in the building.
On China’s orders, the U.N. refuses to recognize any form of identification issued by the Taiwanese government. That means no one with a Taiwanese passport can set foot inside a U.N. facility. Your elected leaders. Your journalists. Even your students. None of them can enter the United Nations, because China has convinced the world that 24 million people in Taiwan effectively do not exist. We fought hard to change this. It actually resulted in a Chinese temper tantrum that went all the way up to the Secretary General, who caved.
While you’re stuck on the outside, China has worked every angle from the inside. I saw that, too. If anyone at the U.N. so much as mentions Taiwan, the Communist Party goes crazy. They demand that everyone refers to you as a “province of China.” They even demanded that a U.S. high school change its website before being allowed in a U.N. building.
China also blocks the U.N. from working with NGOs unless they say Taiwan is part of Communist China. The Communist Party has changed historic U.N. documents, to eliminate any reference to a separate Taiwan.
Keep in mind, this is the same United Nations that’s obsessed with the Palestinians. The U.N. has set up entire agencies devoted to them. Other bodies have standing items on Palestinian issues. And in May, the General Assembly voted in support of full Palestinian membership, with China’s full support.
Talk about Chinese and UN hypocrisy. There are nearly five times as many Taiwanese. The United Nations should stop ignoring you.
China has also spent decades convincing countries to revoke their recognition of Taiwan. Today, a mere 12 nations have diplomatic relations with you.
That number is steadily falling. Three Pacific island nations have abandoned Taiwan in the last five years alone. They decided to stand with China. They couldn’t withstand the bullying and intimidation.
The good news is that some countries are warming up to Taiwan, even in the face of Chinese pressure. Lithuania opened a Taiwanese representative office in 2021, while Estonia has said it’s willing to do the same. China tried to bully them into backing down, but they refused. Every country should have such courage.
And to be clear, courage is necessary. Whenever Taiwanese officials visit Europe, China reacts with rage and threats. And when the Philippines congratulated your incoming president earlier this year, China summoned their ambassador and warned them “not to play with fire.”
Such treatment is insulting to sovereign nations. And China’s treatment of Taiwan hurts the whole world. That fact was on full display in the early stages of the pandemic. To your everlasting credit, Taiwan recognized the danger before anyone else. In late 2019, it was your government who warned the World Health Organization about the COVID virus coming out of China.
But the WHO might as well be a Chinese subsidiary. They don’t recognize Taiwan, so they ignored you. And while you prepared for the worst, with effective policies, the WHO downplayed the threat until it was too late, and millions died.
If China didn’t block Taiwan from WHO membership, the pandemic could have taken a much different turn. Fewer people would have died. And fewer countries would have crippled their economies and curtailed their people’s freedom. China has yet to take responsibility for what it did to the world. But Taiwan was responsible from the very start.
Taiwan’s pandemic leadership proves that you deserve a global voice. Taiwan shouldn’t just be in the WHO. Taiwan should be a full member in the United Nations. You have every right to sit at the same table with the world’s countries. In many respects, you have proven that you have more of a right than most.
Taiwan has made tremendous contributions to humanity. You are global leaders in medicine, science, and technology. In fact, without Taiwan, the tech revolution of the last three decades wouldn’t have happened. To this day, Taiwan accounts for nearly two-thirds of the world’s semiconductor production.
While others are fixated on China’s growth in advanced technology, in many respects, China is trying to catch up to Taiwan. For that reason alone, the U.S. and free nations should embrace Taiwan with open arms.
And if that’s not reason enough, your commitment to shared security is inspiring. Taiwan spends 2.5% of its GDP on defense, and you’ve increased defense spending for seven years straight. I applaud you, and I wish other free nations would learn from you, especially many U.S. allies. You’re ahead of the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Germany, and many other countries, both big and small. And Taiwan’s defense spending is twice as high as Canada’s.
If all our allies leaned in like Taiwan, the world would be a safer place.
Given your leadership, the U.S. and the West should relentlessly push for global acceptance of Taiwan.
Naturally, China will fight this. Beijing will threaten war if the United States and other countries support Taiwan. For all its strength, China isn’t strong enough to conquer you. But it will be eventually, since China is spending 12 to 13 times more than Taiwan on defense. That’s why the West needs to move quickly. We should stand with Taiwan today—not wait until China invades. If we take the necessary steps now, China will think twice about starting a war.
We need to act regardless of how the Communist Party reacts. It will ramp up threatening maneuvers off your shores and in your skies. It will rail against us with threats of hellfire and brimstone. It will even claim that we support Taiwan's independence and say we've crossed a red line. But that’s not true, and in any case, that’s not a decision for the U.S. or any other nation to make. You have the right to self-determination. And our support for you should not be dependent on the decision you make.
We can’t let China’s response dictate our decisions. For decades, it has threatened free nations into silence and inaction. But now is no time for silence. Years of inaction and looking the other way have only weakened us. By listening to China, we’ve wasted precious time, and made war more likely, not less. We can still prevent that future and keep the peace by rebuilding our strength and our resolve.
It’s time to stop letting fear of China control democracies. And we should finally recognize that no one is more afraid than the Chinese Communist Party. They’re terrified of a free Taiwan. They have good reason to be worried.
The 24 million people who live in Taiwan prove that China’s 1.4 billion people can do better than communist tyranny. You show they don’t have to be herded into labor camps. They don’t have to be censored and tortured and executed for speaking out. War and destruction are all that communism understands. Free people are capable of peaceful creation—the kind that has lifted this island to such incredible heights.
So long as Taiwan is democratic and free, you remind the enslaved masses in mainland China of the future that could and should be theirs. You keep alive the hope that such a future is within their grasp. A future where they finally cast off the shackles of communist dictatorship, and finally take charge of their own destiny.
This, more than anything, is why the West must embrace Taiwan, without exception or apology. We should have fought harder when China shoved you aside so many years ago. Now we should right that wrong while there’s still time. Our security and prosperity are bound together. For the sake of our people and the cause of peace, we have a duty to stand together.
Thank you.