The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is attempting to sow division among EU states and sour EU-US relations, with the added aim of impeding the EU’s support for Taiwan, a National Security Bureau report says.
The report discusses Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) visit to Europe from Sunday last week through Friday. It was delivered to the Legislative Yuan’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee ahead of a meeting tomorrow at which the bureau and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are slated to present and answer questions about it.
The bureau’s report says Xi was taking advantage of French President Emanuel Macron’s statement last year that Europe must resist pressure to become the US’ “vassal,” as well as Germany’s significant emphasis on its trade benefits in China.
Photo: Reuters
China hopes making friendly overtures toward France will help stabilize China-EU relations and bring the EU on its side against the US, the report says.
Xi is building better relations with the heads of state in Serbia and Hungary, hoping other countries in Europe will also join its Belt and Road Initiative and support China, it says.
This would contribute to efforts that would affect the EU’s solidarity regarding policies toward China and create rifts within the EU, it says.
The report cites Xi as saying that China intends to build a community with Serbia that would have a shared future.
By befriending Hungary, known for disagreeing with the policies of the EU, NATO and other central European states, China has shown that it aims to encourage anti-US sentiment in east and central European countries, the report says.
Xi’s visit would not affect the EU’s derisking policies as a whole, but some EU members might change their national policies on derisking, it says.
A number of EU countries are holding elections this year, while the European Parliament is holding elections early next month and the UK, Belgium and Lithuania are having parliamentary elections.
Beijing could use this to obstruct European countries’ parliamentary diplomacy with Taiwan, the report says.
While Xi’s visit would not affect EU-Taiwan relations in general, China’s overtures toward Serbia, Hungary and other pro-China countries could be a move toward fostering a greater “one China” coalition of nations, it says.
Taiwan aims to open 18 representative offices and seven Taiwan Tourism Information Centers worldwide by next year to attract international visitors, the Tourism Administration said on Saturday. The agency has so far opened three representative offices abroad this year and would open two more before the end of the year, it said. It has also already opened information centers in Jakarta, Mumbai and Paris, and is to open one in Vancouver next month and in Manila in December, it said. Next year, it would also open offices in Amsterdam, Dubai and Sydney, it added. While the Cabinet did not mention international tourists in its
EYES AT SEA: Many marine enthusiasts have expressed interest in volunteering for coastal patrols, which would help identify stowaways and illegal fishing, the CGA said Six thousand coastal patrol volunteers are to be recruited for 159 inspection offices to enhance the nation’s response to “gray zone” conflicts, Coast Guard Administration (CGA) sources said yesterday. Volunteer teams would be established to increase the resilience of coastal defense systems in the wake of two unlawful entries attempted by Chinese over the past three months, Ocean Affairs Council Minister Kuan Bi-ling (管碧玲) said. A former Chinese navy captain drove a motorboat into the Tamsui River (淡水河) in Taipei on the eve of the Dragon Boat Festival in June, while another Chinese man sailed in a rubber boat into the Houkeng
NEXT LEVEL: The defense ministry confirmed that a video released last month featured personnel piloting new FPV drone systems being developed by the Armaments Bureau Taipei and Washington are pushing for their drone companies to work together to establish a China-free supply chain, the Financial Times reported on Friday. A delegation of high-level executives and US government officials were yesterday to arrive in Taipei to discuss with their Taiwanese counterparts collaboration on drone technology procurement and development, the report said. The executives represent 26 US manufacturers of drone and counter-drone systems, while the officials are from the US Department of Commerce and the US Department of Defense’s Defense Innovation Unit, along with Dev Shenoy, principal director for microelectronics in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense
‘ANONYMOUS 64’: A national security official said that it is an attempt by China to increase domestic anti-Taiwanese sentiment and inflame cross-strait tensions The Ministry of National Defense’s (MND) Information, Communications and Electronic Force Command (ICEFCOM) yesterday denied accusations by China that it had undermined regional security by carrying out cyberattacks against targets in China, adding instead that Beijing was responsible for raising tensions and undermining regional peace. The Chinese Ministry of State Security on WeChat accused a hacker group called “Anonymous 64” of targeting China, Hong Kong and Macau starting earlier this year through frequent cyberattacks. The group carried out cyberattacks to seize control of Web sites, outdoor electronic billboards and video-on-demand platforms in China, Hong Kong and Macau, it said, adding the hackers’