Taiwan is at the core of the EU’s Indo-Pacific strategy. Those were the remarks from Dr. ZsuZsa Ferenczy, a former political advisor to the European Parliament and guest lecturer at Taiwan’s National Dong Hwa University in a recent interview with Radio Taiwan International.
She said that the strengthening of ties between the EU and Taiwan does not mean the EU is moving away from its one China policy but nations are saying it is their right to cooperate with Taiwan.
With recent visits from MEPs and European officials, she says the EU has been sending the signal that Taiwan is not alone as it faces aggression from China. Taiwan has “friends in Europe”.
Regarding China’s retaliation against Lithuania for its welcoming a Taiwanese Representative Office in its capital, she said that weaponizing trade is something all states agree needs to be addressed on European level. She said that China’s retaliation against Lithuania is “a big test” for the European Union.
Ferenczy said that the EU needs to deal with Chinese coercion and that there’s a “shared unease of China’s threat” that needs to be addressed on a European level. EU officials see that Russia and China pose a threat to democracy in the European Union.
She also said that the EU anti-coercion instrument that was recently proposed will enable the EU to respond to Chinese aggression and coercion so the EU can remain an open economy.