00:00A delegation from the European Parliament's Committee on Security and Defense met Taiwan
00:05President Lai Qingde on Tuesday, emphasizing that stability in the Taiwan Strait matters
00:11to Europe, and looking to expand cooperation in key areas like supply chain and cyber security,
00:18as Taiwan likewise pushes for deeper ties with Europe.
00:39On the other side of the street, another group of EU lawmakers arrived in China on Tuesday,
00:45led by the chair of a parliament committee focused on market and consumer protection
00:50to discuss digital and e-commerce challenges,
00:53and marking the first EU parliament delegation to visit China in eight years.
01:06The visit comes after China lifted sanctions last year on several European parliament members,
01:13and in return, the parliament lifted restrictions on meetings with some Chinese officials.
01:18There appears to be growing openness from European lawmakers to engage with China,
01:23following a period of strained relations.
01:25One analyst says these parallel visits to both China and Taiwan signal the EU's growing recognition
01:33of the importance of the Indo-Pacific region,
01:36but also signal its ability to balance relations on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
01:41I believe that timing is unlikely to be fully coincidental,
01:45and the fact that we are seeing two visits happening in parallel sends an important message,
01:49that the European Union and the European Parliament specifically can meaningfully engage with China
01:56amid the new push to normalize relations with Beijing,
01:59while simultaneously maintaining constructive, practical, issue-oriented dialogue with its partners in Taiwan.
02:06So, a significant moment for EU ties with both Taipei and Beijing,
02:12also the Indo-Pacific as a whole,
02:14and perhaps a signal for what's to come,
02:17as both meetings highlight the value of deepening future cooperation.
02:22Fu Waheng and Keynes Quaranta for Taiwan Plus.
02:24is
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