Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu is planning an undisclosed visit to Brussels this week as part of a European tour that is ramping up tensions between the EU and Beijing.
Wu visited the Czech Republic and Slovakia at the beginning of the week and organizers of an anti-China protest in Rome expect him to travel to Italy on Friday to take part in a demonstration on the sidelines of a summit of leaders from the G20 group of leading economies. To add insult to injury in Beijing, this charm offensive from Taipei in Europe comes only days after U.S. President Joe Biden stressed his commitment to guaranteeing the security of the self-ruling island that China regards as its territory.
While the Czech and Slovak legs of the journey were well publicized, Wu's visit to Brussels is being kept hush-hush and it is not immediately clear which officials he will meet. Reinhard Bütikofer, chair of the European Parliament's delegation for relations with China, told POLITICO he had received confirmation of Wu's visit.
An EU spokesperson said only that she was "aware of the visit," and insisted that the meeting would be "non-political" — a hint that he would not meet political appointees, such as EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell.
"We do engage with Taiwan even in the absence of diplomatic recognition," the spokesperson added.
The Chinese mission to the EU said in a statement that Beijing "firmly opposes official interactions of any form or nature between the Taiwan region and countries having diplomatic ties with China. China’s position on this issue is clear."
The Taiwanese delegation visiting Prague secured five memorandums of understanding on topics ranging from cybersecurity to green technology, but Beijing slammed the visits to the Czech Republic and Slovakia starting on Monday as "promoting secessionism." China does not accept that Taiwan is a separate country, so resents its attempts to build up a strong diplomatic profile. Beijing deplored the Czech senate's invitation to Wu as a "malicious provocative act."
If the flying visit to Brussels were not incendiary enough in Beijing's eyes, the move that is likely to bring China to a boiling point is the expected detour to Rome to join protesters in the Italian capital. Organizers of the protest expect Wu to take part, but Taiwanese officials are not confirming that he will make such a provocative step.
If he went, that would create the very rare scenario of Wu being in the same city, at around the same time, as Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi.
Beijing is watching Wu's trip closely. Commenting on his leg in Prague, where Wu was invited by Czech Senate President Miloš Vystrčil, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said: "China deplores and rejects the malicious provocative act by the Senate of the parliament of the Czech Republic and the individuals concerned. We have lodged solemn representations with the Czech side and will make legitimate and necessary reactions."
China is also threatening to "react further" should European Parliament lawmakers press ahead with a plan to travel to Taiwan. Seven MEPs led by France's Raphaël Glucksmann — a member of the Socialists & Democrats group and vocal critic of Beijing's human rights record — are reportedly set to visit Taipei next week, according to the South China Morning Post.
"The European Parliament is an official body of the EU. If its committee sends MEPs to visit Taiwan, that would seriously violate the EU’s commitment to the One-China policy, damage China’s core interest and undermine the healthy development of China-EU relations. We will make further reactions in accordance with the development of the situation," the Chinese Mission to the EU said in a series of tweets.
Beijing has not specified what this reaction would be, but the European Parliament has already experienced Chinese anger. In March, Beijing imposed sanctions on five MEPs and the European Parliament's committee on human rights, after all 27 EU countries endorsed sanctions against several Chinese officials involved in the mass incarceration of Uyghurs in the region of Xinjiang.
Glucksmann's office said he could not "comment at the moment." Parliamentary assistants with knowledge of the trip said information would only be shared later.
In recent weeks, the White House has projected the message that the U.S. commitment to Taiwan is “rock solid” as tensions rise between the country and China. Earlier this month, China sent dozens of warplanes over Taiwan’s air defense zone. Taiwan has condemned the incursions as part of Beijing’s increasing military harassment.
The military tensions also caught the EU's attention. Last week, foreign policy chief Borrell sharply ramped up the EU's rhetoric on Taiwan by saying China's threats to the self-ruling island "may have a direct impact on European security" — partly because Taipei's microchips are "indispensable" to Europe's digital development.
Barbara Moens contributed reporting.
This article has been updated with a statement from the Chinese mission to the EU.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiZGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnBvbGl0aWNvLmV1L2FydGljbGUvam9zZXBoLXd1LXRhaXdhbi1icnVzc2Vscy1iZWlqaW5nLWN6ZWNoLXJlcHVibGljLXNsb3Zha2lhLWRpcGxvbWFjeS_SAWhodHRwczovL3d3dy5wb2xpdGljby5ldS9hcnRpY2xlL2pvc2VwaC13dS10YWl3YW4tYnJ1c3NlbHMtYmVpamluZy1jemVjaC1yZXB1YmxpYy1zbG92YWtpYS1kaXBsb21hY3kvYW1wLw?oc=5
2021-10-27 18:29:18Z
52781962270598
Tidak ada komentar:
Posting Komentar