EU challenges China ties, Taiwan FM to drop in Europe unannounced: WSJ

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Al Mayadeent Net
9 Jun 2023 08:56

The newspaper says citing sources that the Taiwanese top diplomat will be giving a speech at a security conference in Prague on June 14.

An attendant walks past EU and China flags ahead of the EU-China High-level Economic Dialogue at Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, China June 25, 2018 (Reuters)

In a new provocation to China, Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu will make a previously unannounced trip to Europe, where he is expected to make a public appearance with the Czech President, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday citing sources.

The island has no diplomatic ties with any EU member except the Vatican, but Europe has been for the last few months increasingly challenging the "One China" policy, a Chinese internationally-recognized doctrine that the bloc claims it adheres to.

Wu is expected to visit the EU's headquarters in Brussels and Prague, the sources told the newspaper separately without providing further details.

Taiwan's top diplomat will also give a statement at a security conference in Prague on June 14, right after Czech President Petr Pavel's opening speech. This marks a highly unusual move, especially since EU leaders do not formally make public diplomatic appearances with Taiwanese officials, one of the sources said.

While China has attempted to play a mediating role in the Ukraine conflict, the most significant of which was proposing a 12-point peace plan in February, fearing Beijing's growing presence on the international stage, Washington and some of its close allies shunned the Chinese proposal and accused it of assisting Russia in its war without providing any evidence.

In April, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell made an unprecedented statement, calling on the bloc's navies to patrol the Taiwan Strait. Despite his diplomatic status, Borrell urged for a military provocation against the Asian giant right in its own backyard.

In the same month, French President Emmanuel Macron stated that Europe must not be a "follower" of either the US or China on Taiwan, warning that the EU risks becoming entangled in "crises that aren't ours."

The French President stated that "we must be clear where our views overlap with the US, but whether it's about Ukraine, relations with China, or sanctions, we have a European strategy."

"We don't want to get into a bloc versus bloc logic," he added, saying Europe "should not be caught up in a disordering of the world and crises that aren't ours".

However, regardless of his statements, Europe did not show a concrete desire to adopt this policy and was even opposed by some influential parties in the European parliament and some of the bloc's members.

In 2019, Taiwan's top diplomat gave an address at the Copenhagen Democracy Summit in Denmark, following a Brussels trip in 2021 where he spoke at an event in Bratislava and met with officials, including Pragaue's mayor.

Last January, shortly after winning elections, Czech President Petr Pavel became the first elected European leader to formally make direct public contact with Taiwan's leader Tsai Ing-wen in a phone call that further fueled tensions with Beijing.