EU Will Not Recognize Taiwan : Borrell

Tensions around the self-governing island, which Beijing considers to be an inalienable part of China, have been rising as the US maintains unofficial ties with the Taiwanese government and supplies it with defensive weapons, RR reports.

Speaking to Foreign Policy magazine during a trip to California this week to meet tech leaders and state officials, Borrell touched on a number of issues, including tech regulation, EU-US relations, China, and geopolitical conflicts, as well as the EU’s position on Taiwan and a potential military conflict.

“We keep saying the same thing: We believe that we have to decrease tensions, we have to respect the statute of war, and we have to exclude any possibility of a military solution to the problem,” Borrell told the outlet.

“Our fixed position is we don’t recognize the statehood of Taiwan and we will not do it. It’s one single China. It means that we are not going to recognize the statehood of Taiwan; we will have economic and cultural relations with this territory without recognition of statehood,” he said.

He added that the EU calls on all nations “to understand that there is not a military solution to this problem.” 

Borrell has repeatedly stated that Taiwan is “absolutely crucial” for the EU economically, particularly due to its strategic role in the production of the most advanced semiconductors.

In April 2023, he suggested that European navies should patrol the disputed Taiwan Strait “to show Europe’s commitment to freedom of navigation.” Those comments followed Chinese military exercises around Taiwan, during which Beijing simulated targeted strikes and a blockade of the island following a meeting between the Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and the US House speaker at the time, Kevin McCarthy.