TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The EU can assume the role of peacemaker in Taiwan Strait tensions, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said on Monday (Aug. 22).
Speaking at the first session of the "Quo vadis Europe?" forum in Santander, Spain, Borrell said, “The EU in this scenario is trying to act as a moderator.” He expressed concern about China’s aggressive response to U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in the form of live-fire military drills and bans on Taiwanese food products, according to the South China Morning Post.
“Mrs. Pelosi has the right to travel wherever she wants, of course, but one thing is your right and the other thing is the right moment,” he said. The vice president said he saw how “uncomfortable” Washington officials felt when the trip took place.
Borrell said he had no plans to visit Taiwan and Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, also likely has no such plans so as to “avoid giving (China) a pretext for tensions to grow.”
Asked what the EU would do if Beijing attacked Taiwan, Borrell said that if the Chinese Communist Party tried to seize Taiwan, the EU would try to “avoid direct confrontation with China.”
“Everyone defends the rights of Taiwan to develop its political system. But everyone deals very carefully and tries to avoid a direct confrontation with China,” he added.
The vice president said the West must defend the rights of the Taiwanese, but since it is not a member of the UN, strategic ambiguity must be maintained.
