Europe is “alongside” Taiwan, assures a delegation from the European Parliament

While tensions between China and the island of Taiwan are at their height, a delegation from the European Parliament visited Taipei on Thursday. Led by French MEP Raphaël Glucksmann, it is described as the first “official” representation of the European Parliament on the island. He called Taiwanese democracy a “treasure that all democrats in the world should cherish and protect.”

“And we came here with a very simple and very clear message: you are not alone”, assured Raphaël Glucksmann during a meeting with President Tsai Ing-wen. “Europe is at your side, at your side to defend freedom, the rule of law and human dignity”, he continued, urging the European Union to strengthen cooperation with the island.

EU-Taiwan partnership would jeopardize China-EU relations

“It is high time for us in the European Union to show that we are in the same boat (…) we must then establish a very concrete program of high-level meetings and concrete high-level measures to build together a much stronger EU-Taiwan partnership ”, concluded the MEP.

Very critical of China, Raphaël Glucksmann was sanctioned by Beijing in March along with four other MEPs. Before the arrival of the European delegation in Taipei, a Chinese mission in Brussels had warned that a visit of MEPs to Taiwan “would undermine the fundamental interests of China and compromise the healthy development of China-EU relations”.

China tries to isolate Taiwan

Beijing, which claims its sovereignty over the island, has stepped up its actions in recent years to isolate Taiwan on the international scene and stop any attempt to recognize as an independent state this territory which has its own government. China reacted angrily when a group of French senators made the trip to Taipei last month and when Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu was welcomed to Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

Relations between China and Taiwan have deteriorated sharply since the arrival to power in 2016 of Ms. Tsai, who considers her island as sovereign and not as part of China. The Taiwanese defense minister assured that military tensions with Beijing were at their highest in 40 years, after a record number of incursions by Chinese fighter jets into the air defense identification zone (Adiz) of the island in early October.