Taiwan is a key partner for the EU in the Indo-Pacific. The EU’s position is clear: Conflict is in nobody’s interest and no one should unilaterally change the status quo in the Taiwan Strait. The EU will not change its stance; it will continue to engage with China and maintain cooperation with Taiwan in the spirit of persistence without provocation, within the framework of the EU’s own “one China” policy.
This was the core message of the European External Action Service articulated at a meeting last month of EU foreign affairs lawmakers at the European Parliament in Brussels.
Following their summer recess, it was the first opportunity for the lawmakers to exchange views on the unprecedented escalation of tension in the Taiwan Strait after the visit of US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taipei.
The decision to ensure Taiwan featured on the agenda was correct and timely, as it added to growing European support for Taiwan across the EU — support which has been most tangible in the European Parliament.
The debate was a strong indication that EU lawmakers remain concerned with and determined to continue playing a vital role in rebalancing the EU’s relations with the People’s Republic of China (PRC).
They are key in driving a review of the EU’s approach to Taiwan, just as Beijing continues to dismiss their tools to pursue parliamentary diplomacy, such as the visit of delegations to Taiwan.
As German legislator and member of the European Parliament Reinhard Butikofer said: “Beijing’s reaction to Pelosi’s visit was an escalation of choice and demonstrates the aggressive course that the PRC government has chartered.”
If the EU does not want to see a catastrophic development in the Strait, it has to pursue a “principled policy that combines diplomacy and deterrence,” he added.
The message from EU legislators to Beijing remains clear — pressure would not succeed in changing their stance. Instead they would continue to explore ways to strengthen cooperation with Taiwan. Beijing has miscalculated; in sanctioning several European lawmakers, including Butikofer, their determination to speak up has only increased.
However, the message from legislators is not merely directed at Beijing. Individual EU member states need to understand that a unilateral change to the “status quo” could have implications beyond the Strait.
Beijing’s continued military belligerence and “gray-zone” activities are dangerous and not Taiwan’s problems alone.
As Lithuanian EU lawmaker Rasa Jukneviciene said, the fate of Taiwan as a democracy in Asia is as important as the fate of Ukraine in the EU.
In September last year, Brussels adopted the EU’s Indo-Pacific strategy, noting that increasing tensions in the Taiwan Strait might have a direct impact on European security and prosperity.
This strategy is yet to be implemented, but through their debates, resolutions and visiting delegations, lawmakers have contributed to normalizing Taiwan’s place in Brussels’ political discourse and have supported efforts to follow through on European commitments.
The next right thing for European lawmakers to do is to elevate their debate on the situation in the Taiwan Strait beyond the Committee on Foreign Affairs and get the European Parliament to take a firm stance.
It would not be the first time. In October last year, the European Parliament voted overwhelmingly for its first standalone report on EU-Taiwan relations, signaling it was ready to “work closely with member states to intensify EU-Taiwan political relations and to pursue a comprehensive and enhanced partnership under the guidance of the EU’s One China Policy.”
EU member states must heed the message: They have the right to cooperate with Taiwan and it is in their interest to do so as they pursue trade with Beijing.
Beijing should not decide for them, nor should it decide the future of the people of Taiwan against their will.
Notwithstanding the “one China” policy in place, cooperation with Taiwan has been growing and Taiwan is now very much part of the European discourse.
Brussels must assert itself accordingly and carve out a balanced relationship with China.
The EU must continue on the path of upgrading cooperation with Taiwan that has already begun by modernizing bilateral trade cooperation.
The EU’s economic weight is its strongest asset. What it lacks is a strategy for resilience. As it looks for ways to strengthen its capacity in this regard, a resilient supply chain agreement with Taiwan would enable concrete progress, as Butikofer suggested, also given that prospects of talks on a bilateral investment agreement with Taiwan remain distant.
“At present, there is a clear convergence in the House that Taiwan is important for the EU. Our support for Taiwan has therefore been growing,” vice chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on International Trade Iuliu Winkler said.
The EU now sees Taiwan as a partner. With the escalation of tension in the Taiwan Strait, the EU and its member states must adopt a clear and credible strategy to contribute to maintaining peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region.
In this process, parliamentary diplomacy remains imperative and the current momentum must not be lost.
Zsuzsa Anna Ferenczy is an assistant professor at National Dong Hwa University in Hualien.
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