China's hostility toward Taiwan bound to backfire: European lawmakers

Taipei, Oct. 30 (CNA) China's hostility toward Taiwan will only have "the opposite effect" of what it hopes to achieve and further alienate Taiwan's people, similar to how Russia has changed the perception of many Ukrainians, visiting European Parliament Members (MEPs) said Wednesday.

In an interview in Taipei, when MEP Michael Gahler was asked how he viewed China's attempts to bring Taiwanese into its orbit, he compared it to the situation in Ukraine.

"There were many Russian speakers in Ukraine who, for a while, asked themselves, 'Who am I living in this country?" said Gahler, chair of the European Taiwan Friendship Group, who is leading a delegation of MEPs in Taiwan.

Gahler, from Germany, said that after Russia's occupation of Crimea in 2014 and its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, however, those people made it very clear that "I am Ukrainian. I do not want to be treated as the Russians."

"Yes, I speak Russian but I do not want to be treated in such a way. And that is not the future that I see," Gahler said, describing their change in attitude.

This, along with Russia's pretext for war -- that Russian speakers in Ukraine were discriminated against -- has had the "opposite effect" of what Russia hoped to achieve, and the same can be said of China's approach with Taiwan, Gahler argued.

"The more pressure there is, the more you say, 'no, we belong together and we stand together, and we do not want to be part of something that is so unfriendly to us," Gahler said.

MEP Bernard Guetta, a member of the delegation, agreed.

"The Beijing authorities should understand that, because of their hostility toward Taiwan, you are more and more a nation in the making -- not only a country but a nation in the making," Guetta, from France, said.

Asked what he found most impressive about Taiwan, Gahler said it was that Taiwan is a "daily provocation" to China "because you prove every day that one can organize a Chinese-speaking society in a democratic way and in a more successful way than the communist mainland," Gahler said.

Regarding a recent resolution in the European Parliament (EP) rejecting China's "misinterpretation" of United Nations Resolution 2758, Gahler said it represented "a sign of unity and broad understanding that we do not want political circumstances to be unilaterally misinterpreted in a certain way."

The vote against China's recent bid to sideline Taiwan in the international community with its interpretation of the resolution was carried on Oct. 24 with a strong majority vote of 432-60, with 71 abstentions.

While the U.N. resolution was clear about the People's Republic of China (PRC) replacing the Republic of China on the U.N. Security Council and that the PRC is the only representative of China in the U.N., there was no language in it indicating that statehood should be the prerequisite for international relations, Gahler said.

► European Parliament passes resolution in support of Taiwan

► European Commission joins Taiwan, U.S. in highlighting Resolution 2758

Taiwan, therefore, should make use of opportunities to participate in international fora as an observer or participating entity, he added.

"There is no point for China to interpret something against Taiwan that is not in this resolution, and that is their attempt," he said.

Asked about what delegation members discussed with Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) Tuesday during a meeting at the Presidential Office, Gahler said they were exploring possibilities to broaden economic cooperation between the European Union and Taiwan.

Specifically, the two sides exchanged opinions on how they could arrive at economic agreements in certain sectors, Gahler said.

The EP had earlier proposed entering into a bilateral investment agreement with Taiwan, but many economic insiders believed making the move now would be "too ambitious."

Therefore, Gahler said, it is the EP's job to identify areas of mutual benefit in which the two sides can strengthen cooperation by, for example, signing memorandums of understanding.

Taiwan is a "world champion" in semiconductors, but the EP hopes to expand cooperation into artificial intelligence, which is being developed at a rapid pace and an area where the EU needs to "catch up" by collaborating with Taiwan, Gahler said.

In many cases, the EU has provided the technology used by Taiwan to make new products, he added.

This "mutual dependence" must be further developed such that it can better serve the mutual benefit of both sides, Gahler noted.