China pressures EU nations to bar Taiwanese officials

Wednesday 14 January 2026 - 11:20

By: Dakir Madiha

China pressures EU nations to bar Taiwanese officials

China has intensified diplomatic efforts to isolate Taiwan on the international stage, urging European governments to deny entry to high-ranking Taiwanese officials. Between November and December 2025, Chinese diplomats delivered formal notes and made direct appeals at European embassies in Beijing and in European capitals. These communications invoked EU border regulations, specifically the Schengen Borders Code, to argue that hosting such figures crosses Beijing's red lines on Taiwan.

Peking framed the visits as threats to international relations, pressing countries to reject the Taiwanese president, vice president, and former officials. The push targets recent high-profile trips, including those by Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim, who addressed the European Parliament in November 2025 as the first sitting Taiwanese vice president to do so. Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung's speech at the Warsaw Security Forum in September 2025 also drew ire, with China accusing Hsiao of separatist rhetoric at a Brussels parliamentary alliance summit. Affected nations include Belgium, Czech Republic, Poland, Netherlands, Italy, Austria, Germany, Lithuania, Denmark, Estonia, and Ireland.

European recipients dismissed Beijing's legal arguments outright. Zsuzsa Anna Ferenczy, an assistant professor at Taiwan's National Dong Hwa University, described China's interpretation of the rules as bold, insisting that EU-Taiwan ties pose no risk to EU-China relations. Norway and Finland confirmed receiving the notes; Helsinki emphasized that visa decisions remain a matter of national sovereignty under Finnish law and Schengen rules. Taiwan's foreign ministry countered that its officials' European visits have no bearing on China and fall outside Beijing's interference rights.

This pressure campaign unfolds amid surging EU-Taiwan engagement. Data from the Central European Institute of Asian Studies reveal a fivefold increase in interactions from 2019 to 2024, with mutual visits rising over sixfold. Analysts like Claus Soong from the Mercator Institute for China Studies view the moves as cautionary signals rather than overt threats, aligning with China's long-term strategy to curb Taiwan's global outreach.