The 2026 Taiwan International Ocean Forum (TIOF) opened Wednesday, July 8, in Taipei, bringing together domestic and international experts to discuss regional security and maritime issues. 

Luke de Pulford, the creator and Executive Director of Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), said the forum would help raise global awareness of Taiwan’s situation and urged stronger, more effective international action to deter threats to peace from China. 

A high-level dialogue session was moderated by Thomas P. McDevitt, president of the Washington Times. Speaking ahead of the event, McDevitt said he loved Taiwan in Mandarin. He noted the newspaper recently published a special report titled “Why Taiwan Matters, Now More Than Ever,” which he presented to President Lai Ching-te (賴清德). McDevitt said his exchanges with Lai underscored how crises can also be opportunities, particularly in shaping a new Indo-Pacific alliance. 

De Pulford warned that rising cross-strait tensions carry significant global economic risks. He said, “We need to have international agreement about what the red lines would be that would trigger international action in the event of escalation. We don’t have that. We still have too little awareness about the cost to the global economy of escalation of cross-strait tensions. All of that has to be addressed. We cannot have another situation where we sleepwalk into another Ukraine, except it would be much more severe.”

IPAC, comprising lawmakers from 44 countries and the EU, has faced diplomatic pressure from China. De Pulford said participating politicians have taken considerable risks but expressed confidence that they would return home prepared to push for stronger responses.