By Zsuzsa
Anna Ferenczy
Europe and Taiwan share an interest in advancing a free and open international order and in protecting democratic governance from authoritarian threats. An assertive China enabling an aggressive Russia has pulled them closer in their joint efforts.
Europe and Taiwan should now engage in cooperation in strategic investment by linking their digital connectivity policies in the developing world. Together, they could empower developing countries to drive their own development and build up strategic resilience.
The EU’s response to China’s assertiveness has so far been halfhearted, limited by institutional resistance, member states’ divisions and a lack of political will. As EU-China relations have grown more complex over the decades, the EU’s position has become more fragmented, with China exploiting divisions. Yet things are shifting.
“China has changed” is the widely held consensus across the bloc, so Europe has to change too, and not only in its approach to China, but in the way in which it engages the developing world, where Beijing has made significant inroads over the past decade. With an assertive approach backed by generous funding under its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Beijing has promoted an alternative governance model, promising to deliver on both development and security. With questions as to whether Europe has “lost the Global South” to China still open, the EU is now slowly catching up.
It took years for the EU’s Global Gateway, launched in 2021, to finally take off, with its identity crisis in terms of pursuing development assistance vs. foreign policy objectives still ongoing.
At the Global Gateway Forum held in October — just days after the 10th anniversary of China’s BRI — the Commission revealed concrete examples of how the instrument would bring the “right kind” of investment — and therefore offer “better choices” to countries.
In this regard, the EU shares another interest with Taiwan, which is to counter China’s growing authoritarian influence in the developing world. China continues to pose an existential threat to Taiwan. Ahead of Taiwan’s presidential election in January, Beijing has doubled down on efforts to manipulate the process to serve its interests and discredit democracy. In response, Taiwan has been investing in democratic resilience at home and building like-minded partnerships abroad.
Beyond Taiwan, China represents a serious threat to regional peace. China’s economic coercion, military maneuvers in the Taiwan Strait and pressure despite its reliance on Taiwan’s semiconductors, endangers stability in the entire Indo-Pacific region. Beijing’s efforts have nonetheless backfired; the EU and its member states are upgrading, rather than downscaling cooperation with Taiwan. Shared concerns over an assertive China supporting an aggressive Russia following its renewed aggression against Ukraine since last year, created opportunities for Europe and Taiwan to coordinate their cooperation in and with the developing world.
In its resolution last September, the European Parliament urged the Commission to consider connectivity projects and coinvestment in partnership between the EU’s Global Gateway and Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy, “with a view to fostering trade and political relationships as well as stability in the Indo-Pacific region.”
Since 2016, President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) pivotal regional policy for Asia, the New Southbound Policy (NSP), has pursued stronger cooperation with Southeast Asia through people-to-people contact, capacity-building and think tank diplomacy. Taiwan is capitalizing on momentum in its growing internationalization, a process that the EU as a whole and its member states have contributed to. Linking their digital connectivity policies would further consolidate the process.
The EU’s development arm, the Directorate-General for International Partnerships, the body in charge of handling the Global Gateway, and Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs should establish a Global South Connectivity Working Group (GSWG) to set a strategic frame to complement each other’s connectivity priorities in the developing world and create synergies in order to scale up high-quality strategic investment together. The EU and Taiwan already have a solid bilateral cooperation framework in place, including various sectoral working groups. The GSWG could be a creative way to expand cooperation.
Research and innovation are areas already included in the Global Gateway and the NSP, in line with the UN’s sustainable development goals, indispensable to creating resilient societies and empowering individuals to exercise agency. In the words of Tsai, Taiwan is committed to integrating its capacity in high-tech industries to promote a digital New Southbound initiative. Together with European partners, they could boost digital transformation as a key driver of sustainable development.
Backing its Global Gateway rhetoric with substance is vital for the EU’s credibility. In the words of Ambassador Romana Vlahutin, former special EU envoy for connectivity, the EU policy toward the Global South needs a reset guided by a strategic foreign and security mindset.
Developing countries clearly prefer investment over aid, she explained, which would allow them to climb up the value chain and benefit from knowledge transfer on a transformational scale.
The EU and Taiwan must recognize the value of partnering up with developing countries. This requires political will — both in Taiwan and in Europe — and an inclusive and strategic approach. If done right, the EU and Taiwan could contribute to the growth and resilience of the developing world, in partnership with developing countries.
Zsuzsa Anna Ferenczy is assistant professor at National Dong Hwa University in Hualien and a former political adviser in the European Parliament.
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