We reported yesterday that the Taiwanese Foreign Minister will visit Europe next week in order to have some discussions but it is not yet known what the official purpose of his visit is. Having said that, we know that Europe, except for the Vatican, does not recognize Taiwan and neither does it have diplomatic ties with the country. This means that the importance of Taiwan’s Foreign Minister increases as he could be looking to establish ties with some parts of the Europe that might be willing to do the same in order to support Taiwan against China’s aggression especially after what they have seen happen against Ukraine by Russians.
However, China understands the hidden purpose of Taiwan minister’s visit which is why they have cautioned the Europe against any official ties with Taiwan. China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson, not recognizing Taiwan or its officials, said that Taiwan does not have a foreign minister but just the “head of the region’s local foreign affairs department”.
He added that “The “one China” principle is a prerequisite and the political basis for China to develop “friendly” relations with all countries in the world” and also mentioned that “We urge the European side to understand the essence of the Taiwan issue, to abide by the solemn commitments made to China on the ‘one China’ principle, not to support Taiwan independence forces, and not to conduct official exchanges with Taiwan under any name.”
Wang added that “We also want to tell the Taiwan Democratic Progressive Party authorities that any separatist acts and attempts to gain self-respect from foreigners are doomed to end in failure,” giving a clear indication that China would not tolerate any official talks with the EU during his visit. However, Czech Minister Lipavsky said he is “informed” about the minister’s visit but also mentions that “Of course, the Czech government has a fairly clear policy on how we maintain relations with Taiwan, so I don’t expect us to veer from this in any way” which also gives you a clear indication that the EU does not want to move its official ties away from China anytime soon.
