The European Parliament on Thursday passed a report calling for closer cooperation with like-minded partners, including Taiwan, to build a resilient web of trusted connectivity.
The European Commission and the EU high representative for foreign affairs and security policy in 2021 launched the Global Gateway, a strategic initiative to boost sustainable and high-quality infrastructure investments worldwide aimed at operating as a transparent and values-based alternative to other global infrastructure initiatives such as China’s Belt and Road Initiative.
Four years after its inception and one year into the current European Commission’s term, the European Parliament has been reviewing the progress of the initiative. It on Thursday passed a resolution on a progress report.
Photo: Reuters
The resolution was passed with 371 votes (62 percent) in favor, 146 (24 percent) against, and 80 abstentions.
The Global Gateway strategy aims to become “EU’s flagship framework for sustainable connectivity and global investment, and as an alternative to China’s Belt and Road Initiative,” the report said.
It said the initiative “calls for closer cooperation with like-minded partners with a view to building a resilient web of trusted connectivity, especially, but not exclusively, partners such as the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea, India and Taiwan.”
In an environment of increased geopolitical rivalry and uncertainty, the Global Gateway initiative can boost smart, clean and secure links between the bloc and its partners, the report said, adding that it can help restore Europe’s industrial competitiveness, while reducing its dependencies in critical sectors and counterbalancing China’s growing global influence.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday said that as authoritarian regimes leverage non-transparent lending and infrastructure projects to extend their global reach, it would deepen cooperation with the EU and other like-minded countries through its “integrated diplomacy” framework, and jointly promote a cooperation model consistent with democratic values.
It also said that it welcomed and appreciated a joint statement by German and Australian defense ministries released on Thursday, adding that it “underscored the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, and reaffirmed their shared opposition to any unilateral action to change the status quo.”
The joint statement was issued after Australian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Richard Marles met with German Minister of Defense Boris Pistorius in Canberra.
Taiwan, Australia and Germany are like-minded partners that share universal values such as democracy, freedom and the rule of law, MOFA said.
“The joint statement issued by these two nations once again demonstrates that maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, the South China Sea and the broader Indo-Pacific region has become a matter of international consensus,” it added.
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