EU Parliament Vice-President Beer: "We were naïve about Putin, that shouldn't happen to us in Taiwan"
Created: 07/21/2022, 19:58
By: Sven Hauberg
In Taipei, Nicola Beer (left) met Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen.
© Taiwan's Presidential Office/AFP
"I definitely don't want to see February 24th in Asia": Nicola Beer, Vice President of the European Parliament, talks about her visit to Taiwan in an interview.
Munich/Taipei – Nicola Beer, Vice President of the European Parliament, was in Taiwan for three days.
It was the highest-ranking official visit by a MEP to the island to date.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing protested on the first day of Beer's trip - China regards Taiwan as a breakaway province, threatens to conquer the democratically governed country militarily and refuses all official visits by foreign government officials to Taipei.
In an interview with
Merkur.de
by
IPPEN.MEDIA
, FDP politician Beer demonstratively supports Taiwan.
Faced with Chinese aggression, she says, "We were late for Hong Kong, and we shouldn't be late for Taiwan."
Ms. Beer, what made you decide to travel to Taipei now?
The trip had been planned for a long time, but then the Corona crisis intervened.
I believe now is a very important time to shine the light on Taiwan again.
We were late for Hong Kong and we shouldn't be late for Taiwan either.
Ukraine showed us that, as Europeans, we were naive about Putin.
That must not happen to us in Taiwan.
I definitely don't want to see a February 24th in Asia.
By that you mean that China is invading Taiwan.
Do you currently see this danger?
I don't want to speculate about if and when that can take place.
But I want to prevent the Chinese from even considering this possibility - by making Taiwan visible and by valuing it as a democracy.
We have recently seen Beijing provoke Taiwan more and more frequently: China violates Taiwanese airspace and claims international waters as national waters.
Muscle flexing has increased, so we have to make a clear statement: we stand with Taiwan.
Is that enough to keep China from invading?
Words and well-intentioned gestures have not helped in the Ukraine conflict.
The difference with Ukraine is that we didn't react there when Russia marched in Crimea and Donbass.
It was a mistake not to show a clear edge to Putin in time.
That's why my trip to Taiwan as Vice-President of the European Parliament makes it clear that we are against a unilateral shift in the status quo by Beijing.
We in Parliament also want the trade talks between Taiwan and the EU to result in a bilateral investment agreement.
And we would like to upgrade our local European office.
We are promoting the already good relations, also against the background of Taiwan's geopolitical importance.
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China and Taiwan: "We are concerned with stability and peace in the region"
The US has been supporting Taiwan with arms sales for many years.
Shouldn't Europe do the same?
Individual European member states such as France and Germany have already shown their colors by sending their submarines and ships into the region's waters.
But yes, the European Parliament has long been demanding that we act more strongly as a real geopolitical actor in foreign and security policy.
We have to get out of the slipstream of the Americans and need a strong European pillar under the umbrella of NATO.
These are factors that will help us protect Taiwan.
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You met the President of Taiwan, the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister.
What requests have been made to you and to the EU?
Taiwan would like to develop further relations with the EU.
In addition, the wish was expressed to be able to work in other international organizations.
This is a wish that the European Parliament supports.
The first goal is to allow Taiwan to participate in the World Health Organization Assembly.
I believe that the international community would benefit enormously from this.
Finally, we have seen how well Taiwan has coped with the pandemic.
This can then lead to further steps in other international organizations.
The EU supports the one China policy, which states that there is only one China, represented by Beijing.
At the same time, this is closely linked to the demand from the EU side that the Taiwan issue be resolved peacefully.
If Beijing now threatens to take Taiwan by force, doesn't the whole one-China principle become obsolete?
We are concerned with stability and peace in the region.
And that includes Taiwan democracy.
The Taiwanese built this democracy from the bottom up, they want to maintain this system.
It must be Taiwan that decides what its future holds.
As long as nothing changes in the status quo, we will not give up the One China policy either.
"We don't need a Chinese speech note to talk to Taiwan"
Jorge Toledo Albiñana, the future EU ambassador in Beijing, said in an interview this week that the European Union is not defending Taiwan's independence "but is striving for peaceful reunification".
But that's exactly what you don't want in Taiwan under any circumstances...
Unlike the future EU ambassador, I do not adopt these propaganda terms from the Chinese government.
For me, it's about the right of the Taiwanese to determine their own future.
Sharing common values as democracies, we stand shoulder to shoulder with Taiwan.
A spokesman for China's foreign ministry condemned their visit to Taipei earlier this week, saying: "China firmly opposes all forms of official interactions between the EU and the Taiwan region."
We don't need a Chinese speech note to talk to Taiwan.
As democracies, we – the European Union and the European Parliament – stand with Taiwan.
The EU has long referred to China as a rival, partner and competitor.
Which of these three descriptions is currently most applicable?
China is in control of that.
We expect Beijing to use its influence on Putin to end the war in Ukraine and finally restore conditions in accordance with international law.
It also depends on whether China is more of a rival, partner or competitor for us.
(sh)
