Taipei, July 8 (CNA) Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌) told visiting U.S. Senator Rick Scott that the people of Taiwan would not recoil in the face of Chinese ambition to annex the island, during a meeting in Taipei Friday.
Describing China as "the biggest threat," Su said Taiwan would continue to seek cooperation with the United States on security matters, with the hope of contributing to peace and stability of the Indo-Pacific region.
Su's comments came the same day as Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense (MND) said Chinese fighter jets crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait on Friday morning in "an act of provocation."
The MND did not say how many Chinese fighters flew over the median line -- an unofficial buffer zone normally avoided by both Taiwanese and Chinese military aircraft. However, in a separate statement issued later the same day, the ministry said the Chinese military conducted nine sorties in Taiwan's Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) on Friday.
Meanwhile, Scott told Su the freedom of Taiwan was important both to him personally and to the U.S. "We will do everything we can to support your freedom," he said.
As Taiwan and its people strive to improve the nation's defense capability, Scott said "we will do everything we can to make sure that you have the resources to do that and show up to help you."
Scott, the junior senator from Florida and the state's governor until 2019, arrived in Taiwan Thursday as part of an Indo-Pacific tour that also includes stops in South Korea and Japan.
He was one of three Republican senators to introduce the Deterring Communist Chinese Aggression Against Taiwan Through Financial Sanctions Act, which proposes imposing financial sanctions on Beijing should it invade, blockade, or enact regime change in Taiwan through the use of force, in March.
On Friday, Scott said he sponsored the bill in the hopes of eliminating the U.S. policy of "ambiguity" and to make sure that China knows what it will face should it take aggressive action against Taiwan.
Sources: OCAC
