The Economist explains
Why are eastern European countries cosying up to Taiwan?
They see the self-governing island as an ideological ally—and as a strategic partner
WHEN TAIWAN opened a “representative office” in Vilnius, Lithuania’s capital, on November 18th, one of its first guests was an elder statesman who was born when the island was still under Japanese imperial rule. Vytautas Landsbergis knows about throwing off the shackles of foreign oppression: in 1990, as one of the founders of Lithuania’s independence movement, he led the country’s breakaway from the Soviet Union. Mr Landsbergis’s grandson, Gabrielius Landsbergis, is now Lithuania’s foreign minister.
The new office is the first that Taiwanese diplomats have opened in Europe in 18 years. It is, in effect, an embassy, like Taiwan’s other 28 offices in Europe. Unlike the others, however, it is allowed by its host country to use the name of Taiwan instead of Taipei, which is the name of the island’s capital. As China sees it, this smacks of recognition by Lithuania that Taiwan is a separate country. It abhors any such notion. After Lithuania announced that it would host the representative office using the name Taiwan, China stopped approving export permits for Lithuanian producers (although existing permits have not been cancelled), and downgraded its diplomatic relations with the country, recalling its ambassador from Vilnius and ordering Lithuania’s to leave Beijing.
Other central and eastern European countries are cosying up to Taiwan too. In addition to Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Poland and Slovakia donated covid-19 vaccines to the island—the only EU countries to do so. One Taiwanese NGO coined the term #DumplingAlliance to celebrate the countries’ shared values and love of meat-filled dough (the billions eaten in China each year notwithstanding). On December 2nd representatives from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania (among other countries) gathered in Taipei for the Open Parliament Forum, a summit designed to strengthen the island’s relationships with the democratic world. Why are these countries so keen to build links with Taiwan?
History is one reason. The governments in many eastern European countries can trace their roots back to the anti-Soviet movements of the late 1980s and 1990s. Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia are all led by centrist or centre-right coalitions that are increasingly hawkish on China. Many see similarities between the Soviet Union, which once controlled them, and today’s oppressive China.
But their concerns are not just historic. In the Czech Republic, for example, public opinion began to sour towards China in 2017 when it was accused by journalists and politicians of trying to interfere in Czech politics by dangling the promise of massive investments. In 2018 the Czech intelligence service said Chinese espionage was a greater threat to the country’s security than Russian interference. Countries that border Belarus, such as Latvia and Lithuania, worry about China’s keenness to collaborate with Belarusian armed forces. Marcin Jerzewski of Taiwan NextGen Foundation, a Taipei-based think-tank, says there is a growing awareness in central and eastern Europe that Taiwan “is the best partner for sharing best practices against authoritarianism”.
There are economic reasons too. Some of these countries have failed to reap much benefit from doing business with China. Between 2000 and 2019, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia each received €100m ($113m) of foreign direct investment from China, but this was far less than other European countries, both in terms of the overall value of investment and as a share of GDP. Only 1% of Slovakia’s GDP came from Chinese FDI, compared with nearly 7% of Germany’s. And these countries are wary of running up too much debt from Chinese investments. Taiwan sees an opportunity. In October its National Development Council launched an investment tour of the Czech Republic, Lithuania and Slovakia, emphasising the scope for participation in high-tech industries, such as 5G and semiconductors, in which Taiwan is a world leader.
China has not only denounced Lithuania for appearing to update Taiwan’s status. It has also tried to portray the Baltic country as riddled with immorality. On November 30th Zhao Lijian, China’s foreign ministry spokesman, tweeted that Lithuania was beleaguered by racism, in particular in its treatment of Jews. Taiwan should be worrying more. Some countries in central and eastern Europe are hardly exemplars of liberalism. Lithuania and Poland oppress their LGBT citizens, and Poland’s government has weakened the country’s democratic foundations, incurring the wrath of the EU. But Taiwan has precious few friends. Only 15 countries formally recognise the island.
For all China’s remonstrations, the ex-communist countries in Europe are far from joining that group. None of them has signalled any willingness to break off relations with the government in Beijing, which China would require were they to recognise Taiwan. But Lithuania has taken a step towards establishing a more normal relationship with the island, short of forging official ties. Some bigger countries, including America, are doing the same. Taiwan has been invited to a “Summit for Democracy”, an event hosted by the Biden administration. China was not invited.
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