Link to article: https://english.news.cn/20260911/12a2c3812036446d824988ab227aecd4/c.html
The article discusses the tensions between China and Taiwan regarding Taiwanese independence and China’s efforts to maintain their idea of One-China.This article specifically mentions the interactions between Taiwan, Italy, and the EU and how China perceives these interactions as a threat to their One-China policy. When Taiwanese politician Hsiao Bi-khim visited Italy to attend a conference, China responded by lodging formal complaints with both italy and the EU. Furthermore, Mao Ning, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao, goes on to criticize Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party asserting that the politicians are exploiting their relationship with foreign countries as a means to promote Taiwan independence. China continues to maintain the idea that Taiwan is China’s territory and strongly goes against official exchanges between Taiwan and foreign countries that already have relationships with China. Mao underlying principles also consider that the political foundation of China’s relationship with Italy and the EU is through the One-China policy and so this article shows the unique dynamic between a Taiwan and China and how each of them want different things.
China stepping in when Taiwan is trying to have diplomatic relations with the EU and Italy for themselves is significant because any change in Taiwan’s political status will affect relationships between the major global powers. As a result the EU and Italy will have to be careful in their relationship with China and Taiwan and have to decide how they are going to balance that relationship. This is a dangerous situation especially for Taiwan because in the event that China is successful in their ability to disrupt Italy and the EU from building diplomatic relations with Taiwan it creates a precedent for Taiwan that would prevent it from ever building relations with any countries around the world.
So what could happen if China is successful? China could continue to use its diplomatic power to prevent Taiwan from building relationships with other countries, further discouraging Taiwanese independence. Otherwise, Taiwan could continue to build relationships, even if they are unofficial, with other countries while intentionally being careful not to increase tensions with China. If anything were to happen, I think the EU would be a responder rather than the source of the conflict. Since China is a global center of manufacturing and trade, the EU would likely want to back off from directly challenging China in order to protect its economic and political relationships. If tensions were to increase, Taiwan could end up being placed in a difficult position because it would be at the center of the disagreement between China and the EU.
This connects to concepts from class because it discusses how different states have their own identity and how they fight to maintain that identity. It also exemplifies how stateless nations interact with their state when the two want different things. It also shows how an IGO such as the EU can come into conflict with states that aren’t in its umbrella of countries.