The European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs on Wednesday approved proposals that urge the EU to bolster political ties with Taiwan and rename its European Economic and Trade Office the “EU Office in Taiwan.”
EU lawmakers passed the EU-Taiwan Political Relations and Cooperation report and related proposals in a 60-4 vote, with six members abstaining.
The report is to be brought to the floor of the European Parliament next month. It expresses concern over China’s saber-rattling, and calls on Beijing to cease any action that jeopardizes peace in the Taiwan Strait and not to upset the “status quo” without Taipei’s consent.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The report recommended that the EU initiate work on a bilateral investment agreement with Taiwan and hold talks with the country at the highest official levels.
The EU should play a larger role in international initiatives that maintain peace across the Strait and improve Taiwan’s democracy, while making it a strategic partner in the Indo-Pacific region, it said.
The report condemned China’s trade embargo on Lithuania and recommended that the EU support the Baltic state in the dispute.
In Taipei, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement yesterday thanked the committee, saying that the nation looks forward to more milestones in Taiwan-EU ties.
The ministry would closely monitor the European Parliament’s upcoming vote, it said, adding that the report marked the 10th anniversary of a visa-waiver agreement between Taiwan and the EU.
“Taiwan and the EU share the core values of democracy, freedom and human rights as like-minded partners,” it said.
That Taiwan and Lithuania plan to establish representative offices in each other’s capitals is the best illustration of improved relations between Taiwan and the EU, as well as its member states, it said.
“Taiwan does not back down from intimidation and will stand up for the democratic beliefs of the EU, the US, Japan and other like-minded partners,” it added.
The Chinese Mission to the EU issued a statement saying that the bloc had contravened its “one China” principle and betrayed the trust underlying the two entities’ relations.
EU lawmakers should “immediately correct their erroneous speech and action to protect the political foundation of China-EU relations,” Beijing said.
At a news conference in Taipei, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said passage of the report marks a “historic leap” in Taiwan-Europe ties.
The nation should be gladdened by support in the European Parliament for Taiwan’s inclusion in the international community and the resolution for bilateral economic ties, DPP Legislator Tsai Shih-ying (蔡適應) said.
Mention of Taiwan had been avoided in European politics since regional states began switching recognition from the Republic of China to the People’s Republic of China in the 1960s, Tsai said.
This has changed under President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) leadership, with strides having been made to re-establish relationships between Taiwan and EU members, and raise awareness of Taiwan’s importance in European public discourse, he said.
Additional reporting by Chien Hui-ju
AIR SUPPORT: The Ministry of National Defense thanked the US for the delivery, adding that it was an indicator of the White House’s commitment to the Taiwan Relations Act Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) and Representative to the US Alexander Yui on Friday attended a delivery ceremony for the first of Taiwan’s long-awaited 66 F-16C/D Block 70 jets at a Lockheed Martin Corp factory in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are so proud to be the global home of the F-16 and to support Taiwan’s air defense capabilities,” US Representative William Timmons wrote on X, alongside a photograph of Taiwanese and US officials at the event. The F-16C/D Block 70 jets Taiwan ordered have the same capabilities as aircraft that had been upgraded to F-16Vs. The batch of Lockheed Martin
GRIDLOCK: The National Fire Agency’s Special Search and Rescue team is on standby to travel to the countries to help out with the rescue effort A powerful earthquake rocked Myanmar and neighboring Thailand yesterday, killing at least three people in Bangkok and burying dozens when a high-rise building under construction collapsed. Footage shared on social media from Myanmar’s second-largest city showed widespread destruction, raising fears that many were trapped under the rubble or killed. The magnitude 7.7 earthquake, with an epicenter near Mandalay in Myanmar, struck at midday and was followed by a strong magnitude 6.4 aftershock. The extent of death, injury and destruction — especially in Myanmar, which is embroiled in a civil war and where information is tightly controlled at the best of times —
China's military today said it began joint army, navy and rocket force exercises around Taiwan to "serve as a stern warning and powerful deterrent against Taiwanese independence," calling President William Lai (賴清德) a "parasite." The exercises come after Lai called Beijing a "foreign hostile force" last month. More than 10 Chinese military ships approached close to Taiwan's 24 nautical mile (44.4km) contiguous zone this morning and Taiwan sent its own warships to respond, two senior Taiwanese officials said. Taiwan has not yet detected any live fire by the Chinese military so far, one of the officials said. The drills took place after US Secretary
THUGGISH BEHAVIOR: Encouraging people to report independence supporters is another intimidation tactic that threatens cross-strait peace, the state department said China setting up an online system for reporting “Taiwanese independence” advocates is an “irresponsible and reprehensible” act, a US government spokesperson said on Friday. “China’s call for private individuals to report on alleged ‘persecution or suppression’ by supposed ‘Taiwan independence henchmen and accomplices’ is irresponsible and reprehensible,” an unnamed US Department of State spokesperson told the Central News Agency in an e-mail. The move is part of Beijing’s “intimidation campaign” against Taiwan and its supporters, and is “threatening free speech around the world, destabilizing the Indo-Pacific region, and deliberately eroding the cross-strait status quo,” the spokesperson said. The Chinese Communist Party’s “threats