Taiwan Vice President Annette Lu, one of the fiercest supporters of Taiwan independence from China, said on Monday she hopes an international democratic alliance that she is forming will help Taipei's bid for recognition.
The diplomatically isolated island, viewed by China as a rebel province and recognised by only 26 countries in the world, will launch on Sunday a non-government organisation with members spanning 25 countries including the United States and Japan.
Lu hopes the new Democratic Pacific Union (DPU) - tasked with promoting democracy, peace and prosperity - can raise Taiwan's global profile and hold up its democratic achievements as a shield against the growing military prowess of rival China.
Beijing has threatened to attack the island if it pushes for formal statehood and blocks Taipei from joining many global organisations including the United Nations.
"Taiwan is too small to compete with hegemony," Lu told Reuters in an interview at the Presidential Palace, a red brick building constructed during Japanese rule.
"What Taiwanese people together already achieved in terms of human rights, democracy, peace, love and high technical progress - I call all this achievement soft power," she said.
The 61-year-old Lu is one of Taiwan's most blistering critics of China and her ascension to office five years ago with independence-leaning President Chen Shui-bian have raised worries in Beijing that the island will push for formal independence.
China has vilified Lu as a "traitor" and labelled her "scum of the nation".
Lu, unmarried and wearing a crisp white suit, has been trying to soften her image. She recently designed a new short-sleeve shirt to encourage Taiwan businessmen to dress lightly and save on air-conditioning fees.
Although the DPU will be formed as an NGO, Lu hopes it will one day become an official government-to-government agency that can rival the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) in scope.
Noting that the DPU's launch was timed to mark the 60th anniversary of the end of World War Two, Lu said the main two risks to regional security today are China's military build-up and the nuclear crisis on the Korean peninsula.
"Not long ago, China identified themselves as a peaceful rising country, but shortly thereafter, the whole world began to worry...because they recognise the real rise of China is by no means peaceful. It's absolutely military," she said.
Taiwan's first woman vice president has in turn called the hundreds of missiles that China has pointed at Taiwan a form of "state terrorism" and said the two sides were at quasi-war.
Lu pedalled a softer line on Monday, saying the DPU was not "anti-China" and welcomed Beijing to join if it can embrace democracy.
"We reiterate our sincerity and determination to maintain peaceful existence with China. We welcome stability and improvement of our mutual relationship," she said, when asked about her policy goals for the remaining three years of office.
Lu said Chen is willing to meet with Chinese leaders to diffuse tensions but "China's answer always is that unless we accept the 'one China' policy, there's no way to talk or enhance communication. So the fault is on China and not Taiwan."
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