Taiwan officials ‘puzzled’ by French President Macron’s comments on US-China tensions

We all know that the US and China have come face to face more times then we can count in the last few years which was all thanks to the US President Donald Trump doing a few things that triggered China such as the trade ban and it all started from there. Even now, China is not happy with the US’ stance on Taiwan where they clearly mention that the US will protect Taiwan against the Chinese attacks and Chinese say that US should mind its own business as Taiwan is part of their own territory and they can do whatever they want there.

Between all this, two events of note took place where the US House Speaker met Taiwan President Tsai which was published all over the world. However, a meeting took place between the French President Macron and Chinese President Xi which was sidelined a bit due to the high profile meeting in the US. However, we now have reactions from Taiwanese officials on the meeting between Presidents of France and China. One Taiwanese official said he was puzzled by the French President’s comments on China and US. The French President said that EU should not be drawn into a crisis over Taiwan because of “American rhythm and Chinese overreaction”. He also said that EU should become the “third pole” of world economy after the US and China.

To these comments, the Taiwanese official wrote on Facebook saying that “Are ‘liberté, égalité, fraternité’ out of fashion?,”. You Si-kun, the Taiwanese official, is referring to the French motto of “liberty, equality and fraternity”. He also added that “Is it OK just to ignore this once it’s part of the constitution? Or can advanced democratic countries ignore the lives and deaths of people in other countries?”

Surely, the comments from French President on Taiwan are a little puzzling but they remain in line with the official position from France who don’t have any diplomatic ties with Taiwan but France does have an embassy in Taiwan. With his comments, the French President has made it clear that the EU should not go into war with China even if US wants to protect Taiwan from China.