© Getty Images Beijing is exhausting every avenue to hinder Taiwan’s deepening of international relationships.
Chinese functionaries are putting stress on European nations by delivering “legal counsel,” asserting that their own regulations compel them to bar Taiwanese representatives from entry, The Guardian reports , citing sources in diplomatic and governmental circles.
Specifically, Chinese officials have reached out to European embassies stationed in Beijing or, through their local counterparts, directly to European governments, cautioning them against violating “ China’s red lines .”
These engagements took diverse forms, spanning individual nations to groups, encompassing both formal written notes (a somewhat official diplomatic communication) and personal discussions. All these interactions transpired during November and December of the previous year, seemingly in response to recent European visits by Taiwanese figures, including the current deputy leader and foreign affairs minister, along with the island nation’s previous leader.
Beijing expressed that it “honors the sovereignty of the European side in the development and execution of visa procedures” yet an “institutional shortcoming” facilitated regular travels by Taiwanese politicians, according to one formal note reviewed by the Guardian.
The Chinese delegation referenced multiple EU legal acts and directives, notably the Schengen Borders Code, stipulating that the precondition for non-EU nationals’ admission is that they “are not regarded as a menace to… the international affairs of any member state.”
As the Guardian points out, Beijing regards allowing Taiwanese officials entry into a European country as a hazard to that country’s global relations with China.
In select instances, Chinese officers have also cited the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Engagement or proposed that European states emulate the UN’s approach and prohibit all Taiwanese individuals from gaining access to government premises.
“Beijing’s implementation and understanding of this clause is ambitious. Beijing posits that EU-Taiwan connections threaten EU-China connections. This diverges considerably from perception or truth in Europe,” remarks Anna Ferenczi, an associate professor at Taiwan’s National Donghua University.
The formal note articulated that European nations ought to reject any “so-called diplomatic passports” issued by Taiwan and “forbid Taiwanese officials from going to Europe for the purpose of forging official ties and exchanges and breaching China’s red lines.”
“China anticipates that EU bodies and European countries, based on the broader considerations of China-Europe affairs and respective country relations, will make a definitive political decision to turn down entry to the so-called president or vice president of Taiwan (including former ones),” the statement conveyed, while also mentioning other figures.
The document pinpoints visits by these dignitaries to Belgium, the Czech Republic, Poland, the Netherlands, Italy, Austria, Germany, Lithuania, Denmark, Estonia and Ireland, which “severely impair relations between China and the EU.”
“The European side… even permitted [Taiwanese Vice President] Xiao Bi-him to address the audience inside the European Parliament edifice and promote separatist aspirations for ‘Taiwan independence,’” the note declared, alluding to Xiao’s address at the annual summit of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China held in Brussels.
The foreign ministries of Norway and Finland have verified their inclusion among the nations to whom the suggestion was delivered. They stated that visa guidelines concerning Taiwan are dictated by the appropriate Schengen authorities.
“Entry to the UK is decided entirely by our own statutes and immigration rules, which are equally applicable to people arriving from Taiwan,” clarified a British Foreign Office spokesperson.
Taiwan's Foreign Ministry communicated that the officers' travels to Europe “bear no relation to China whatsoever, and China lacks the authority to intervene.”
China's “suggestions” on European border protocols, effective since 2011, were likely not perceived as lawfully sound by the recipient countries, but several smaller nations treated the “admonitory tone” particularly earnestly.
“I view this as another tactic to amplify concerns among EU member states that their engagements with China may be jeopardized… and Beijing is thoroughly conscious that certain EU member states are currently keenly interested in attracting Chinese funding,” Ferenczi notes.
Klaus Sun, an expert focusing on China's international strategy, suggests such maneuvers align with Beijing's enduring tactic of employing all feasible techniques to obstruct the international community from collaborating more intimately with Taiwan.
“Beijing is exerting substantial effort to ensure that before permitting Taiwanese officers entry, one should contemplate thoroughly. I would refrain from terming it a menace; it is more of a reminder, albeit not necessarily a gentle one,” Sun supplemented.
The EU, while sustaining formal connections with Beijing, also retains “robust” informal relationships with Taipei through parliamentary interaction and commerce. Multiple European countries and the EU itself operate trade delegations that function as unofficial embassies in Taipei.
Nonetheless, in recent times the EU has faced mounting strain from Beijing , which regards Taiwan as a province and aims to seize control of the island, through force if necessary. As a component of its endeavor to compel Taiwan to consent to “peaceful reunification,” Beijing has been imposing intense diplomatic tension on the international arena to segregate Taipei from multilateral collaboration.