MEP Reinhard Bütikofer tweeted on March 31, citing a Financial Times report that the Biden administration will adopt some of the changes made during the Trump presidency to ease restrictions on meetings between U.S. diplomats and Taiwanese officials, calling on EU member states to also revisit their policies on Taiwan relations.
Contacts between U.S. diplomats and Taiwanese officials were restricted for decades until the end of former President Trump’s term, when former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo lifted many of the restrictions on U.S.-Taiwan contacts after Congress passed the Taiwan Reassurance Act in January this year.
The newspaper quoted sources familiar with the matter as saying that the Biden administration decided to retain many of the Trump-era changes that encouraged U.S. officials to meet with Taiwanese officials. Another source familiar with the matter also said that most restrictions on U.S.-Taiwan diplomatic officials’ interactions will be lifted.
Previously, current Secretary of State Antony Blinken has also publicly stated that he wants to seek more space to interact with Taiwan.
In response, Boreham tweeted that EU member states should also revisit their policies on Taiwan.
Taiwan is the EU’s fourth largest trading partner in Asia, and the EU has long been Taiwan’s largest source of foreign investment, with 15 other EU member states having offices in Taipei.
The EU adheres to the “One China” policy and regards Taiwan as an economic and commercial entity, while rejecting any use of force or threat to resolve cross-Strait issues. The EU believes that any solution must be based on a mutually acceptable basis, while respecting the will of the people of Taiwan.
Relations between Europe, China and Taiwan have been gradually changing in recent years with the exposure of the Chinese Communist Party’s genocidal policies in Xinjiang and the global pandemic of the Chinese Communist virus (Wuhan pneumonia) epidemic.
On January 30, 2019, some 20 members of the European Parliament spoke out in favor of Taiwan, and Rangen, chair of the European Parliament’s Friends of Taiwan Group, said that if the Chinese Communist Party continues to threaten Taiwan militarily, the EU will have no choice but to “recognize Taiwan diplomatically.
On April 15, 2019, the President of the European Parliament’s Friends of Taiwan Group and the Presidents of the Friends of Taiwan Group of the UK, Germany and France wrote a joint letter to the World Health Organization (WHO) calling for Taiwan to be invited to the World Health Assembly (WHA).
On April 8, 2020, 67 members of the European Parliament sent a joint letter to European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Borrell, affirming that Taiwan’s model of response to the Communist virus outbreak was worth learning from and that the WHO’s exclusion of Taiwan was discriminatory and unfair to the Taiwanese population. on May 13, 102 members of the European Parliament and four German Members of Parliament co-signed an open letter to the health ministers of EU member states, also calling for support for The Minister of Health and Welfare of the Republic of China, Chen Shih-chung, was invited to attend the WHA video conference as an observer, and requested WHO to implement pragmatic participation of Taiwan in all WHO meetings, mechanisms and activities.
On August 20, 2020, Head of the European Parliament Delegation for Relations with China Bitticoff and Deputy Head of Delegation Schiachi issued a joint statement in support of Czech Senate President Vetzi’s visit to Taiwan.
On January 20, 2021, the European Parliament voted in plenary session to adopt two resolutions on the annual implementation reports of the Common Foreign and Security Policy and the Common Security and Defense Policy, calling for the first time for EU member states to review and strengthen their engagement policies with Taiwan.
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