The European Commission’s Director General for Trade, Sabine Weyand, met with Taiwan’s Minister of Economic Affairs, Mei-Hua Wang, on Thursday 2 June. This meeting marked the beginning of the already existing, but upgraded, EU-Taiwan trade and investment dialogue. According to the Commission, this is the highest ranking dialogue with Taiwan so far.
However, this does not mean that a trade or investment agreement is being negotiated, according to several European sources. This would require the EU Council to give the Commission a mandate to do so. According to one of these sources, the Commission made it clear to its interlocutor that an investment agreement was not in preparation. The EU believes that the environment is already quite favourable in Taiwan, where it is the largest foreign investor.
This new channel of communication aims to strengthen the links between the two parties in critical sectors, primarily semiconductors, where Taiwan has a major position in the world market.
The interlocutors dwelt extensively on this subject at the meeting on 2 June. They agreed to conduct joint monitoring of supply chains, similar to what the EU already does with the US through the EU-US Trade and Technology Council (TTC). The EU wants to exchange with Taiwan to identify vulnerabilities and dependencies that ultimately lead to shortages. “Taiwan has valuable expertise, complementary to EU industry”, said an EU source.
The dialogue addressed other trade-related issues: the EU raised its concerns about access to the Taiwanese market for European agricultural products or access to investment for EU companies in the offshore wind sector. Both sides agreed to explore mutually acceptable solutions. Cooperation in the research sector was also discussed.
This renewed relationship raises the question of potential tensions with Beijing, which has difficulty accepting Taiwan’s independent relations with other foreign countries. “We do not see why China should be concerned. We respect the ‘One China principle’ and make sure that our actions do not have diplomatic implications”, an EU source said.
However, already in May, the spokesman of the Chinese mission to the EU warned against strengthening ties between the EU and Taiwan: “We firmly oppose any form of official interactions or any discussion and signing of agreement with implications of sovereignty and of official nature between countries or organisations and the Taiwan region”, he said. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)