ROME -- Ahead of a visit by his Chinese counterpart to the Italian capital for G-20 meetings, Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu used a virtual address to Rome on Friday to berate Beijing over recent belligerent actions toward the democratic island.
Wu called on countries friendly to Taiwan to use freedom of navigation exercises "more often, and in higher intensity" in the South China Sea to counter Chinese aggression and excessive maritime claims.
"The freedom of navigation operations by certain countries through the South China Sea is a way to reinforce that the area should be free from Chinese control or excessive maritime claims," he told a gathering of parliamentarians who advocate a stronger stance against China.
"If we can continue these freedom of navigation operations more often, and in higher intensity, I think the countries in that region will notice that the Chinese way of excessive maritime claim is going to be disputed," Wu said.
"And by the same token, the Chinese way of conducting military drills against Taiwan within Taiwan's ADIZ [air defense identification zone] or the Chinese maritime intrusion into the disputed water in the East China Sea should also meet with same kind of measures by the like-minded partners."
Wu's address was a key moment in his visit to Europe, and Beijing is likely to see it as provocative given that Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi is attending the G-20 meetings in the city that start on Saturday. He also visited Slovakia and the Czech Republic, and made a brief stop in Brussels.
In his speech, Wu framed Taiwan as being at the "front line of democracy," and thanked Europe for its support. "From an ideological point of view... we should not allow democracy to be destroyed by China," he warned, adding that "Hong Kong is already a very sad story for us."
China claims self-ruled Taiwan as its own, despite never having ruled it. Beijing has not dismissed taking the island by force.
Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu gives an online address in Rome on Friday to a gathering of parliamentarians who advocate a stronger stance against China. (Photo by Rhyannon Bartlett-Imadegawa) In parallel to Wu's visit, a trade mission from Taiwan is also visiting Europe. Over a dozen memorandums of understanding on technology, space, and green energy among others have been signed in the past week with Slovakia, Lithuania and the Czech Republic -- states that have angered China by becoming closer with Taiwan.
Keen to step up engagement with the European Union, Taiwan is calling for a bilateral investment agreement with the bloc.
A nonbinding resolution passed by the European parliament last week supported closer relations with Taiwan, and demanded that steps be taken to "urgently" prepare for negotiating a bilateral investment agreement. The resolution also proposed changing the name of the European Economic and Trade Office in Taiwan to the "European Union Office in Taiwan," "in order to reflect the broad scope of EU-Taiwanese ties."
Wu called the European parliament's resolution "historic" and "a milestone." He noted that larger European countries seemed to think an investment agreement with China is more important than one with Taiwan, and asserted that it is time to move on an investment agreement with Taiwan as the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment has been frozen.
When it comes to relations with Taiwan, the EU leadership faces a difficult balancing act in its relationship with Beijing, which is fraying over human rights issues but seen as necessary in economic terms and in tackling global issues such as climate change.
Taiwan does not have formal diplomatic relations with any European country other than the Vatican City, and the EU has repeatedly stated it follows the "One China" policy.
At the same time, the EU has made it clear recently that it wants to pursue deeper trade engagement with Taiwan, particularly with regards to establishing secure semiconductors supply chains.
In this respect, it was announced during the trade and investment visit that Taiwan will dispatch an expert semiconductor tech team to Lithuania in 2022, with one aim being to identify "potential linkages with Taiwan's industry," according to a tweet from Taiwan's Foreign Ministry.
The EU is Taiwan's fourth largest trade partner, but Taiwan is only the 15th for the EU. By comparison, China is the EU's second-biggest export market, and biggest source of imports, according to the EU Commission's website.
The Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) pitched Friday's event as a "counter-meeting ahead of the G-20 leaders summit to demand a tougher stance toward the Chinese government."
Other invited speakers included Sikyong of the Central Tibetan Administration Penpa Tsering, former Hong Kong legislator Nathan Law and Uyghur artist and activist Rahima Mahmut. Cross-party parliamentarians from India have joined the group for the first time, signaling the deterioration of India-China relations and the changing mood among politicians.