President Lai, Mr. Robert Tsao, Ladies and Gentlemen, Colleagues and Friends: Welcome.

My name is Peter Van Praagh and on behalf of everyone who worked so hard to bring you this event, welcome to the very first meeting that my organization, HFX, is putting on outside of North America.  Welcome to HFX Taipei.

Every year since 2009, the leaders from the democratic world come to Canada for the Halifax International Security Forum.  Over the years, it has become an important meeting place for, what I like to call, the good guys.

For those of you who do not know where Halifax is, and fair enough, I think that is probably many of you, it is almost the Eastern-most point of Canada, on the North Atlantic Ocean.  A long way from here.

Halifax is a deep water port and during both World War One and World War Two, was the launching off point for navy and cargo ships headed across the Atlantic Ocean to supply the winning war effort in Europe.

It is also just down the road from Pictou County, where the Honourable Peter MacKay grew up.  It was Peter, who arrived here just this morning, who started Halifax International Security Forum when he was Canada’s Defence Minister.  Peter MacKay, thank you for making the trip.

I want to take a second to recognize and thank the HFX Board of Directors who are here today, Dr Janice Stein, our Board Chair from Toronto Canada, Ambassador Mark Lippert, our Vice Chair from the United States, Dr. Luis Rubio, from Mexico City, Mexico,  Mr. JJ Omojuwa, from Nigeria and Mr. Dean Fealk, from Silicon Valley, also in the United States.  Thank you for your commitment and for making the trip.

And thanks to all of you, who have traveled from every continent to be with us in Taipei at this important meeting. Jack McCain, General Eyre, thank you.

And thank you, Mr. Robert Tsao for your generosity and for making this meeting possible.

Thank you everyone from Taiwan for your warm hospitality.  It is an honor to be here with you today.

And especially you, President Lai, thank you, for being here to speak to us today.

It is not some coincidence that my organization chose Taipei as its first meeting outside of North America.

Taiwan is a vital democracy whose continued freedom and security is important not only to the people of Taiwan, but to the security of the entire world.

We meet here today in this beautiful capital city of Taiwan exactly 80 years since United States Marines landed at Iwo Jima. Nearly 7,000 Marines died on a speck of an island thousands of miles from home – and not too far from here – to build a future where countries would not, could not, invade their smaller neighbors.

Three years ago next week, Russia invaded its smaller neighbor.  I was there.

I landed in Kyiv from Istanbul on February 23 and went from the airport to President Zelenskyy’s office for a meeting with his national security advisor.  President Zelenskyy was in the next room, delivering a speech that explained to his country and to the world, that the invasion was coming.

I asked Oleksiy Danilov, the national security advisor, the key question: what is Ukraine going to do?

He told me plainly, “Ukraine will fight.”

Later that same night Russia, unprovoked, attacked and invaded its smaller neighbor with military force.  I could hear the bombing from my hotel room.

Russia did not believe that Ukraine would fight.  But President Zelenskyy’s Ukraine fought.

Ladies and gentlemen, it was because Ukraine fought, that the world came together to support its heroic efforts.  And President Zelenskyy’s Ukraine is still fighting.

And Russia has more than one million dead and wounded young men.  One million. In three years of fighting.  To put that into some perspective, Russia had just 50,000 casualties after 10 years of fighting in Afghanistan.  And then Russia withdrew completely.

So, let’s make no mistake: despite tiny advances in the east over the past few months, Russia is spent, exhausted.  Russia won’t recover from the human cost of this war for at least a generation.
And Russia did not achieve its military objectives, namely to capture Ukraine’s capital city, murder President Zelenskyy and install a pro-Kremlin leader.

Russia began the war in Ukraine and Russia lost the war in Ukraine.  I know it.  You know it.  The whole world knows it.

And now we meet at HFX Taipei to explore Taiwan’s security.  At question is whether we live in a world where large countries can freely intimidate and ultimately invade their smaller neighbors.

Over the next two days, we will hear words like grey zone, lawfare, porcupine.  We will explore what China might do, what the United States should do and what the international community could do.

But the key question, of course, is: what is Taiwan going to do?

Halifax, Iwo Jima, Kyiv, Taipei—they are all connected in our shared fight for freedom and democracy.  Because it is democracy and only democracy that leads to opportunity, lasting peace and security.

It is an honor to be here in Taiwan, this vibrant democracy and more than that it is an honor Ladies and Gentlemen to introduce President Lai.