After a summer marked by escalating tensions between Beijing and the island of Taiwan, the Chair of the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs, David McAllister, proposed a last-minute debate on Taiwan to his colleagues on Thursday 1 September. “We cannot and will not tolerate any unilateral attempt to modify the status quo and even less so by resorting to force”, he said while opening the discussion.
His colleagues expressed their concern about Chinese actions against their neighbour. For months, they have been calling for closer ties between the EU and Taiwan. Both EPP and Greens/EFA MEPs are calling for work to start on a bilateral investment agreement. “Now that the EU-China investment agreement is dead in the water I don’t see what the reason could be to further delay the bilateral investment agreement” with Taiwan, said Reinhard Bütikofer (Greens/EFA, German), Chair of the European Parliament delegation for relations with China.
Dominic Porter of the European External Action Service (EEAS) reminded MEPs that such an agreement was not on the table at the moment in the Commission.
As for the approach to limiting tensions in the Taiwan Strait, he said that diplomacy and dialogue were the way forward. The One China principle must be reaffirmed at all costs and, at the same time “the EU will not compromise on promoting peace”.
How then can we try to maintain peace in the region? Mr Porter did not advocate specific actions to address MEPs’ question, but repeatedly stressed the need for open dialogue.
On the same day, the French President, Emmanuel Macron, affirmed that, in this context, France was not undertaking a confrontational approach with China in the Indo-Pacific region. (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)