EU Parliamentarians say they want to learn from Taiwan how to counter threats from Beijing
- The EU delegation met President Tsai Ing-wen on Thursday, telling her ‘you are not alone. Europe is standing with you’
- Beijing has condemned the visit for breaching the one-China policy and warned the visitors not to encourage separatist forces on the island
Defying warnings of retaliation from Beijing, Raphael Glucksmann, the head of the European Parliament’s special committee on foreign interference, led a 13-member delegation, including six other lawmakers, to Taiwan for a three-day visit that began on Wednesday.
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“We came here to learn from you, to learn from your capacity for building such a vibrant democracy while being confronted with such a level of threats and interference,” said Glucksmann, a vocal critic of China, who had been barred by Beijing from visiting the mainland.
Glucksmann said Europe is also facing “large-scale actions orchestrated by an authoritarian regime to vandalise European society and weaken its democracy”.
“Your success in building your democracy while being confronted with such threats is good advice for us,” Glucksmann said, adding the delegation could learn from Taiwan’s experience in dealing with this kind of threat and see what tactics can be applied at home.
Taiwan is under growing pressure from Beijing, which views the island as its territory and has not ruled out taking it by force. Tensions have soared as Beijing has stepped up military operations around the island and it is also accused of engaging in disinformation and cyberattacks, including on government agencies.
Glucksmann told Tsai that in addition to showing support for Taiwan, the group’s visit was a concrete step to deepen the EU’s ties with the island.
“The Chinese side resolutely opposes certain individual members of the European Parliament [visiting Taiwan], and for this we have lodged solemn representations [with the parliament],” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a scheduled press conference on Thursday.
He said the European side must abide by its commitment to the one China policy and refrain from sending any erroneous or misleading messages to separatist forces on the island. He said cross-strait unification is a trend that no one can stop.
In his meeting with Tsai, Glucksmann said: “We came here with a very simple, very clear message: You are not alone. Europe is standing with you.”
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“Our visit should be considered as an important first step. But next we need a very concrete agenda of high-level meetings and high-level concrete steps together to build a much stronger EU-Taiwan partnership.”
For her part, Tsai expressed her appreciation for the group’s visit, saying Taiwan is hoping to establish a “democratic alliance against disinformation” as the challenge is a global one.
“We believe Taiwan and the EU can certainly continue strengthening our partnership in all domains,” she added.
“Taiwan is also willing to share its experience in combating disinformation with our European friends. This will deepen our partnership and help safeguard the free and democratic way of life we enjoy.”
It also proposed the symbolic gesture of changing the name of its representative office in Taiwan from the European Economic and Trade Office in Taiwan to the European Union Office in Taiwan.
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The trip also follows a visit to Taipei by a group of French senators last month, and Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu’s recent trip to the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Belgium as well as a Taiwanese government-organised business trip to Europe.
