Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung made a visit to Paris in September, while the country’s National Security Council advisor Hsu Szu-chien was dispatched to visit NATO headquarters in Brussels, says a report on the geopolitical analysis website Intelligence Online.
Lin made the visit to hold a meeting with Taiwanese diplomats representing the country in Africa. Taiwan has offices in five countries on that continent, although it has official relations with only one.
Hsu held meetings with officials from the European Commission. NATO. Intelligence Online said that he had visited Brussels as part of a wider tour through Europe, which brought him to Paris, Berlin, London and Warsaw. This tour aimed to expand “partnerships in the areas of SCADS (Semiconductors, AI, Defense, and Surveillance).”
It was reported on the website that both officials had successfully met with high-level people and important institutions.
While Taiwan lacks formal diplomatic links with the member states of the European Union and NATO and has lacked the unofficial relationships that have kept it a key ally of the United States, growing suspicion of China in Europe has warmed these countries’ relations with Taiwan.
[Image: A Taiwanese Marine Corps battalion in Kaohsiung in July 2020, By 中華民國總統府 – https://www.flickr.com/photos/presidentialoffice/50082396406, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=102070623]