TAIPEI -- Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen said in a New Year's speech that the island's global status has been lifted amid the COVID-19 pandemic, and cross-strait relations with Beijing are now an issue for the entire world.
"Taiwan's strategic position in the world has been elevated," Tsai said at the Presidential Office on Friday. "In the past year, military aircraft and vessels from the other side of the [Taiwan] Strait have been frequently active around Taiwan, which not only caused impact on cross-strait relations but risked the peaceful, stable status of the Indo-Pacific region."
