Shortly after his election, Chen Shui-bian
On the face of it, the desire by both sides to improve relations makes perfect sense. The EU is an increasingly popular destination for Taiwanese investors. Likewise, a growing number of European companies are choosing to locate in Taiwan. Cultural and educational exchanges are also growing steadily. Still, despite the uplifting rhetoric, building closer institutional links between Europe and Taiwan will be no easy job. Why?
For starters, most EU member states and the Commission to boot have accorded to priority to building better relations with Beijing. In a nutshell, this is because they have been wowed by the prospect of China's future economic potential. They have also proved susceptible to fears of being denied access to that market.
The upshot of all this is that most of the continent's governments refuse to even explore the possibility of creatively moving beyond their official commitment to upholding the notion of "one China." The practice among some countries of appointing trade officials rather than career diplomats to their offices in Taiwan doesn't help much either.
Furthermore, most Europeans believe that when push comes to shove Taiwan will lean towards Japan and the US -- its closest friends and largest trading partners; and in the latter's case, the major guarantor of the island's security. They are probably right.
Witness the recent decision to award the contract to build a high-speed train to the Japanese Shinkansen consortium, rather than to a group of European companies. Allegedly, the Europeans lost out because the Taiwanese thought that it would smooth the way for President, Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) to visit Japan. This kind of thing hardly helps to build confidence.
For their part, the Taiwanese are understandably suspicious of the budding links between a number of European nations and China. For instance, the sight of President Jiang Zemin (江澤民) meeting the Queen in London last year and going for a walk in the country with his French counterpart Jacques Chirac is unlikely to have filled Taipei with confidence. Also, Europe's impressive record of caving in on issues -- such as human rights -- whenever Beijing ratchets up the pressure is unlikely to have gone unnoticed.
Of greater long-term concern are the reports that a number of European defense companies are selling defense equipment and systems to China. Lost amid the furor of Israel's plan to sell the Phalcon Airborne Early Warning system to Beijing, for example, BAE System is currently attempting to sell its Searchwater AEW system to China. British and Italian companies are also known to have provided avionics for China's indigenously developed F-7 fighter.
Against this backdrop, Taiwan could be forgiven for being concerned that Europe is moving slowly but surely away from the self imposed embargo on arms sales imposed after the Tiananmen Square massacre.
The Commission's track record is not much better. Despites promising for years to open an office, an excuse has always been found for not doing so.
Can these challenges be overcome? Perhaps. Rather than simply talking about how much he enjoyed giving his lecture at the London School of Economics, for example, Chen could send a clear message about the strength of his commitment to building better ties. For its part, the Commission could stop prevaricating and open an office in Taiwan right away.
Beyond that, both sides would do well take the opportunity afforded by Chen's election to start looking at ways to creatively expanding their relationship within the framework of "one China." Even if that can be achieved, as things stand at the moment, the chances of relations between Taiwan and Europe ever growing to mirror those that the island already has with the Japan and the US remain, frankly, slim.
Damon Bristow is head of the Asia program at the Royal United Services Institute for Defense Studies in London.
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