Taiwan, prisionera de la China Una (¡Grande! y ¿Libre?)

TAIWAN DIPLOMACY

PRESIDENT WANTS A DEAL: Speaking at the Copenhagen summit, Taiwan’s Tsai asked the EU to start negotiation for a bilateral investment agreement. “To reflect how far the Taiwan-EU relationship has come in the past few years, I believe it is time for Taiwan and the EU to restart negotiations on a bilateral investment agreement,” she said.

Mind your chips: An investment agreement with Taiwan, Tsai argued, “would not just help secure our supply chains — it would protect our mutual geopolitical and economic interests, and send a message about the partnerships and values on which our interests depend.” Taiwan has also recently argued that a deal could help the EU to secure supply of critical microchips.

Thanks, but no thanks: “The Commission has not yet considered the launching of investment negotiations with Taiwan,” a spokesperson for the European Commission said Monday. “The EU and Taiwan are however in regular policy dialogues on economic, trade and investment issues, including on market access barriers.” The EU doesn’t recognize Taiwan as a sovereign state under the “one China” policy, which makes signing an international treaty with the island diplomatically difficult — at least before it ratifies the investment agreement with Beijing, if it could.

FRANCE RAISES THE STAKES: The French Senate last week passed a resolution in support of Taiwan’s participation in the World Health Assembly and the International Civil Aviation Organization, the Paris climate accord and Interpol. Unsurprisingly, Beijing is fuming. Again. “This is clearly in violation of the ‘one China’ principle and constitutes blatant interference in China’s internal affairs,” the Chinese embassy to Paris said in a statement. “The Chinese side would like to express strong dissatisfaction and firm opposition.”

12-V-21, politico