Taiwan’s vice president, Hsiao Bi-khim, embarked on a landmark visit to Europe last week, addressing a European Parliament group and pitching deeper ties across several fronts.
Hsiao addressed an annual summit of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) inside the European Parliament building in Brussels last Friday, where she urged Europe and Taiwan to “stand together in defending democracy,” and deepen co-operation on supply chains, cybersecurity, and countering disinformation.
“Europe has defended freedom under fire. And Taiwan has defended democracy under pressure,” Hsiao told the lawmakers, according to Reuters. It was the first time a senior Taiwanese official had ever delivered an address in a European Union building.
According to The Guardian, “about 50 lawmakers from about two dozen countries attended Friday’s event in Brussels.” Taiwan’s minister of foreign affairs, Lin Chia-lung, accompanied Hsiao and told reporters that he had established a “Europe Task Force” within his ministry.
Hsiao’s visit (and warm reception) marks a modest diplomatic win for Taiwan, underscoring Europe’s growing solidarity with the island despite Beijing’s protests.
China's foreign affairs ministry criticized the EU over the visit, accusing Taiwan of using IPAC, “a group that has no credibility at all, to solicit foreign support for their separatist agenda.” The EU adheres to the One-China Policy, recognizing Beijing as the government of China, and does not have formal diplomatic relations with Taipei.
Beijing is also locked in a growing spat with Tokyo over Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi Sanae’s recent assertion that a Chinese attack on Taiwan would represent a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan. China’s consul general in Osaka responded by saying, on social media, that “the dirty head that sticks itself in must be cut off,” which resulted in an official protest by Tokyo.
