Former representative to the US Chen Chien-jen (
The EU actually vetoed the cancelation of the arms ban by a vote of 14 to 1 last December. However, backed by France, China is likely to win the gradual support of Germany, Italy, Denmark and the Netherlands. This year, Beijing has decided to stage a comeback, and to aggressively strive for the support of EU member states.
We must keep an eye on the Dutch presidency of the Council of the EU in the second half of this year, and developments once Portugal's former prime minister Jose Manuel Barroso officially begins his five-year term as the president of the European Commission in November. In fact, the Dutch presidency already announced the inclusion in its priority agenda of new discussions on whether to withdraw the weapons ban on China.
In Europe, China has manipulated this issue for years and has won increased support. In Asia, Beijing also canceled its planned military exercises on Dongshan Island this month, adopting a tactic of expressing superficial goodwill to win greater European support. The withdrawal was certainly not an isolated incident in Asia. Rather, it was a part of China's global positioning as it continues to strengthen its military capacity.
But China's recent oppression of Taiwan shows Beijing's true colors. During this year's annual World Health Assembly meeting in Geneva from May 17 to 21, China continued to treat Taiwan as an enemy. It even strengthened efforts to block our participation in international affairs, and to prevent the Taiwanese people from obtaining the most basic right to health care.
Therefore, we should pay close attention to the other motives behind Beijing's cancelation of military drills -- especially its ultimate strategic goal of lobbying EU member states to lift the ban. If China is able to easily acquire advanced military technologies from Europe, peace and stability in east Asia will be severely damaged.
At present, China is the aggressor in the military confrontation across the Taiwan Strait and Taiwan is the one being threatened. Amid the continued domestic power struggles between the pan-blue and pan-green camps, we often forget that a powerful and authoritarian China is ready to annex Taiwan by force at any time. Taiwan called off the annual Han Kuang military exercise to lower regional tensions out of goodwill. But both President Chen Shui-bian (
Moreover, we must remind our friends in the EU that the reason for the ban -- to protest Beijing's crackdown on democracy and human rights during the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre -- has not disappeared. Not to mention that the Chinese government is notorious for oppressing the Falun Gong religion, restricting democracy and freedom in Hong Kong and cracking down on Chinese dissidents.
French President Jacques Chirac will visit China next month and the EU will begin its various working meetings this month. I hereby urge the Taiwanese government and people to pay close attention to these related issues, as well as to the possible damage to Taiwan. Above all, we must mobilize our European friends to oppose the removal of the EU's arms embargo on China.
Wu Chih-chung is the secretary-general of the European Union Study Association-Taiwan, and an assistant professor in the department of political science at Soochow University.
TRANSLATED BY EDDY CHANG
Concerns that the US might abandon Taiwan are often overstated. While US President Donald Trump’s handling of Ukraine raised unease in Taiwan, it is crucial to recognize that Taiwan is not Ukraine. Under Trump, the US views Ukraine largely as a European problem, whereas the Indo-Pacific region remains its primary geopolitical focus. Taipei holds immense strategic value for Washington and is unlikely to be treated as a bargaining chip in US-China relations. Trump’s vision of “making America great again” would be directly undermined by any move to abandon Taiwan. Despite the rhetoric of “America First,” the Trump administration understands the necessity of
In an article published on this page on Tuesday, Kaohsiung-based journalist Julien Oeuillet wrote that “legions of people worldwide would care if a disaster occurred in South Korea or Japan, but the same people would not bat an eyelid if Taiwan disappeared.” That is quite a statement. We are constantly reading about the importance of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), hailed in Taiwan as the nation’s “silicon shield” protecting it from hostile foreign forces such as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and so crucial to the global supply chain for semiconductors that its loss would cost the global economy US$1
US President Donald Trump’s challenge to domestic American economic-political priorities, and abroad to the global balance of power, are not a threat to the security of Taiwan. Trump’s success can go far to contain the real threat — the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) surge to hegemony — while offering expanded defensive opportunities for Taiwan. In a stunning affirmation of the CCP policy of “forceful reunification,” an obscene euphemism for the invasion of Taiwan and the destruction of its democracy, on March 13, 2024, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) used Chinese social media platforms to show the first-time linkage of three new
Sasha B. Chhabra’s column (“Michelle Yeoh should no longer be welcome,” March 26, page 8) lamented an Instagram post by renowned actress Michelle Yeoh (楊紫瓊) about her recent visit to “Taipei, China.” It is Chhabra’s opinion that, in response to parroting Beijing’s propaganda about the status of Taiwan, Yeoh should be banned from entering this nation and her films cut off from funding by government-backed agencies, as well as disqualified from competing in the Golden Horse Awards. She and other celebrities, he wrote, must be made to understand “that there are consequences for their actions if they become political pawns of