Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung expressed welcome and appreciation for the European Union Foreign Affairs Council’s recent report which expresses concern over security in the Taiwan Strait and notes that China is attempting to reshape the international order. That came in a Foreign Ministry press release on Saturday, July 18.

The Foreign Ministry said that the EU Foreign Affairs Council adopted the report titled ‘Common Understanding - The Threats and Challenges We Face:
Assessment of the EU’s Strategic Environment’ on July 13. The document notes that China’s increasingly assertive behavior in the South China Sea, East China Sea, and Taiwan Strait is having an increasingly far-reaching impact on the security, stability, and prosperity of Europe and the Indo-Pacific region. It states that any action changing the status quo in the Taiwan Strait would have a significant and far-reaching impact on global security. The report emphasizes that security in the Indo-Pacific and in Europe are more closely intertwined than ever before.

The report also identifies China as a key enabler of Russia’s aggression in Ukraine. It notes that forces led by Russia and China are key drivers behind the transformation of the international order. The document states that China holds an asymmetric advantage over the EU, which will be a long-term strategic challenge for the bloc.

The Foreign Ministry said that Taiwan will continue to work with the EU and other like-minded partners to defend universal values of democracy, freedom, and the rule of law. Taiwan will also make a greater contribution to global security, stability and prosperity.