European Parliament Overwhelmingly Passed Resolution On The Situation Of Taiwan Strait Following Us Taiwan Policy Act Of 2022

On Sep 15th, the plenary meeting of European Parliament overwhelmingly adopted a resolution on the situation in the Strait of Taiwan with 424 votes in favor, 14 against and 46 abstentions, proposing 26 recommendations in response to CCP’ military threat to Taiwan. Given the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee approved the Taiwan Policy Act of 2022 after repeated momentum building about US-Taiwan relations in Congress, the latest resolution on Taiwan passed by European Parliament was a landmark of creating new situation of EU-Taiwan relations, even though it was not binding on the EU’s executive branches.

It is learnt that the resolution on the situation in the Strait of Taiwan was jointly proposed by 5 political groups of the European Parliament. The resolution praises Taiwan authorities and political leaders’ cautious and responsible reactions to CCP’s provocative actions, such as condemning the CCP’s military threat that undermines the peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and calling on the EU to negotiate with Taipei and sign bilateral investment agreement as soon as possible. Moreover, the resolution believes the visits to Taiwan by lawmakers of the EU member states and other supportive measures contribute to deterring CCP’s invasion, thereby urging the EU to enhance political ties with Taiwan and saying European Parliament will continue to send delegations to visit Taipei.

On top of that, the European Parliament also requires its European External Action Service to swiftly start preparations for negotiating a reciprocal and resilient supply chain agreement with Taiwan, aiming to protect Taiwan’s security and strengthening its chip industry. The parliament calls on the EU to confront CCP’s One-belt-one-road Initiative by its own overseas infrastructure construction program known as the Global Gateway and seek investment cooperation with Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy. It is hoped that the European Commission will change the name of the European Economic and Trade Office in Taipei to reflect the broader bilateral relationship and call on European countries without trade representative offices in Taipei to follow Lithuania’s lead in strengthening economic and diplomatic ties in the Indo-Pacific region.