Wed, Apr 09, 2025 page8

• Belgium steps up support for Taiwan

  • By Michele Maresca
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  Belgium is one of the most reliable allies when it comes to defending and safeguarding Taiwan’s territorial integrity amidst authoritarian threats.

  The Belgian coalition government’s agreement, signed in February, included language supportive of maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea. This topic was addressed from two perspectives: Chinese threats to Taiwan’s sovereignty and the consequences arising from a conflict between the two Asian nations.

  The Belgian government referred to Beijing’s “military maneuvers, provocations” around Taiwan and “internal destabilization actions” as examples of its intention to conquer the nation through diplomacy or force.

  The coalition government pointed out that the potential effects stemming from a direct invasion or a gradual strangulation of Taiwan by China “would have considerable political and economic consequences,” given “the prominent place” Taiwan occupies in the semiconductor market.

  Brussels’ proactive approach toward the multilayered issue of a potential confrontation between Taipei and Beijing is by no means axiomatic. Various European countries, even if strong economically and financially, are afraid of the consequences arising from addressing China in a proactive and strategic way.

  That is why Belgium’s case could lay the foundations for a renovated EU’s approach toward China, both economically and from a security point of view. As the Belgian government said in its coalition agreement, “we must reduce our economic dependencies and effectively protect our economic potential.”

  The Belgian government showed its awareness of the situation by referring to the risk of espionage, cyber and hybrid threats coming from China.

  Brussels emphasizes the need to act as a counterbalance to China’s different vision of the multilateral world order and universal values. In particular, Belgium regards its role, within this context, as grounded on “closely monitoring and raising the human rights issue with China.”

  This approach is a brilliant example of the new Belgian government’s foreign policy agenda, in line with those of the past, as regards human rights, democracy and liberal values. This commitment was reaffirmed in the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ “2025 Policy Statement,” which notably mentioned Chinese military drills around the nation as a way of “deliberately undermining social stability in Taiwan.”

  The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Taipei welcomed this statement by asserting that it was “looking forward to deepening bilateral exchanges and cooperation with Belgium as to jointly safeguard the rules-based international order and advance peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific.”

  Last month, the Belgian parliament once again showed its willingness to deepen ties with Taiwan by adopting a resolution unanimously, calling for Brussels to strive “together with the governments of the federated entities for more economic, scientific, cultural and parliamentary exchanges between Belgium and Taiwan.”

  It also went beyond the common language used by European parliaments as regards Chinese threats to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea by urging Beijing to “immediately cease all actions and intrusions into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone and violations over Taiwan’s peripheral islands, as well all other gray zone military actions, including cyber and disinformation campaigns.”

  Given the bipartisan support for the resolution, the latter can be deemed as an emblematic manifestation of Belgium’s posture toward China’s assertive agenda regarding Taiwan, the South China Sea and the subversion of the existing global order.

  With Russia, Iran and North Korea on its side, Beijing is looking to use sharp power activities to implement its vision of a multilateral global order lacking in the international liberal values it is opposed to.

  As Belgium increases awareness of how the situation might unfold, there is a general understanding that other European countries should follow in its footsteps as regards the adoption of a proactive approach. China and Russia are two sides of the same coin: It is only through such awareness that a different future can be written than the one anti-Western powers intend to achieve.

  Michele Maresca is an analyst at Il Caffe Geopolitico, an online international law journal, and the think tank Geopol21.
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