Members of the Formosa Club, a group of Taiwan-friendly lawmakers in Europe, on Thursday expressed concern over China’s attempts to disrupt supply chain links to European firms, and reiterated support for Lithuania, which has been targeted by Beijing.
In a letter to European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, they said: “Since Taiwan opened its representative office in Vilnius on November 18, China has resorted to every possible means to coerce Lithuania in an increasingly unscrupulous and brazen fashion.”
“This campaign has included everything from removing Lithuania from China’s customs clearance list to unilaterally renaming the Lithuanian Embassy in China and recalling all ID cards of its personnel,” said the letter, which the group shared on Twitter.
Photo: RITCHIE B. TONGO, EPA-EFE
“While China’s threats are increasingly becoming a reality, it is also becoming crystal clear that the target of China’s coercive action is not simply Lithuania, but more broadly, the fundamental integrity of European supply chains,” it said.
A dozen German companies, including vehicle parts giant Continental AG, have faced significant pressure to stop using components made in the Baltic country, with Beijing threatening to shut them out of the Chinese market, the letter said.
“As the EU is making all the effort to achieve strategic autonomy, China’s economic sanction against Lithuania is a litmus test to [the] EU’s determination and solidarity,” the letter said, calling on the EU to take action to resist such coercion.
“The last thing that we would like to see is the EU and member states being blamed for inaction in the face of this coercion,” it said.
In Taipei, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that the letter was signed by members of the European Parliament and 24 national parliaments, including European Parliament-Taiwan Friendship Group chairman Michael Gahler, Germany-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group chairman Klaus-Peter Wilsch and Lithuanian Parliamentary Group for Relations with the Republic of China (Taiwan) chairman Matas Maldeikis.
The ministry thanked the lawmakers for their support.
Their move shows that there is a consensus among European countries to resist China’s increasingly arbitrary coercions against democratic countries, the ministry said in a news release.
Taiwan, as a like-minded and friendly partner of Lithuania, would continue to deepen its bilateral trade relations, it said, calling on like-minded countries to join efforts to defend a rules-based international trade order.
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