european parliament: ‘You are not alone’: EU Parliament delegation tells Taiwan on first official visit

The European Parliament’s first official delegation to Taiwan stated on Thursday the diplomatically remoted island isn’t alone and known as for bolder actions to strengthen EU-Taiwan ties as Taipei faces rising stress from Beijing.

Taiwan, which doesn’t have formal diplomatic ties with any European nations besides tiny Vatican Metropolis, is eager to deepen relations with members of the European Union.

The go to comes at a time when China has ramped up army stress, together with repeated missions by Chinese language warplanes close to democratic Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its personal and has not dominated out taking by pressure.

“We got here right here with a quite simple, very clear message: You aren’t alone. Europe is standing with you,” Raphael Glucksmann, a French member of the European Parliament, informed Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen in a gathering broadcast stay on Fb.

“Our go to needs to be thought-about as an necessary first step,” stated Glucksmann, who’s main the delegation. “However subsequent we want a really concrete agenda of high-level conferences and high-level concrete steps collectively to construct a a lot stronger EU-Taiwan partnership.”

The three-day go to, organised by a committee of the European Parliament on international interference in democratic processes, will embrace exchanges with Taiwanese officers on threats corresponding to disinformation and cyber assaults.

Tsai has warned of accelerating Chinese language efforts to realize affect in Taiwan, asking safety companies to counter infiltration efforts.

“We hope to determine a democratic alliance in opposition to disinformation,” Tsai informed the delegation within the Presidential Workplace.

“We imagine Taiwan and the EU can actually proceed strengthening our partnership in all domains.”

Taiwanese International Minister Joseph Wu made a uncommon journey to Europe final month that angered Beijing, which warned the host international locations in opposition to undermining relations with China.

Fearing retaliation from Beijing, most international locations are unwilling to host senior Taiwanese ministers or ship high-level officers to the island.

Final month, the European Parliament adopted a non-binding decision to deepen ties with Taiwan, with steps corresponding to trying into an funding settlement.