Meeting Common Challenges with Shared Values: Connecting Taiwan and Europe

These remarks were presented by Dr. Jaushieh Joseph Wu, Taiwan NSC Secretary General at the Taiwan Trilateral Forum in Berlin, Germany, on June 4, 2025. Learn more about the Taiwan Trilateral Forum.
 

Ms. Bonnie Glaser, Indo-Pacific Program managing director of the German Marshall Fund, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, good afternoon. I would like to express my appreciation to Bonnie for the generous introduction. I would especially like to thank her for the invitation, and for the months of effort and coordination that made it possible for me to return to Berlin after so many years.

To me, it is really too many years, and I can’t stop being emotional about attending the 8th Taiwan Trilateral Forum. I am glad that the German government finally sees some value in my presence, or at least views my visit not a problem any longer. My desire to visit Berlin all these years has always come with one single objective: to engage in intellectual discourse with whoever interested in Taiwan. In other words, I hope to personally bring Taiwan to Germany.

I do sincerely thank the German government for making this happen, which highlights how far our bilateral relations have advanced.

It might just be a simple tick on one desk in the Foreign Ministry, but it takes courage, as I am still barred from many other capitals. And I truly hope that my visit to Berlin can serve as an example to have more doors opened to Taiwan.

I would like to stress that my visit to Germany can be seen as a microcosm of Europe’s Indo-Pacific tilt recently, with Taiwan as a focal point. In the past few years, we have seen the contours of a new reality taking shape. Words that once felt daring are now staples in the communiqués and joint statements of our European friends:

• Peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait is indispensable to global security and prosperity.
• We oppose any unilateral attempt to change the cross-strait status quo by force or coercion.
• We support Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations.

Just a few years back, such clarity and conviction would have been unthinkable. But today, these statements reflect a clear shift—one that recognizes the growing importance of the Indo-Pacific in the European strategic thinking. Europe is now waking up to the Indo-Pacific, not just diplomatically. We see this awakening in action.

Many European countries, including Germany, France, the UK, the Netherlands, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, and the EU itself, have released their Indo-Pacific strategies. Some European navies, including that of Germany, have sailed into the Taiwan Strait in Freedom of Navigation Operations. You have also called out coercion when you saw it. These are not symbolic acts; they are strategic signals that countries in my part of the world have noticed with appreciation.

The government and people of Taiwan feel glad now that there is an awareness among Europeans that any conflict involving Taiwan may have a detrimental global economic impact, likely to be far worse than that caused by Covid-19 or the war in Ukraine, as roughly half of the global container ships sail through the Taiwan Strait, and more than 90% of the most advanced semiconductor chips are produced in Taiwan. Some study estimates that a war involving Taiwan may cause as much as 10% of global GDP. A better and less costly way to handle this would be to deter war than to fight it.

It would be correct to say that we have to be concerned about the danger posed by communist China’s expansionism. The “combat readiness joint patrols” have been conducted on a weekly basis, with many combat jets crossing the Taiwan Strait median line, which used to be seen as an enduring symbol of the status quo.

In larger scale military drills, the PLA not only gathers large number of aircrafts around Taiwan, but also naval and coast guard vessels right up to the 24 nautical mile line off Taiwan’s coast. In these cases, the PLA would declare their air-sea exercises without prior warning, attempting to show that Chinese military is capable of turning drill to real without caring about international laws, norms, or concerns.

China’s military exercises are also cloaked in legal justifications. In the past year alone, the PLA has staged multiple large-scale military exercises, such as Joint Sword 2024A, 2024B, and Strait Thunder 2025A. These exercises simulated attacks against Taiwan and practiced blockade of Taiwan’s major ports. The PLA navy also integrated the Coast Guard’s “law enforcement” into military operations—all in the name of “One-China principle.”

This “one China” is not diplomacy. It is China’s lawfare in operation. In other words, “One China” is no longer a concept subject to interpretation or negotiation. It is part of China’s war design. And the goal is clear: to build a façade of legitimacy for military action, that the conflict is domestic and no others have the right to intervene. It is the same with UNGA resolution 2758, which has no bearing on Taiwan, but the PRC has twisted it to claim sovereignty over Taiwan and exclude us from international fora.

On this very issue of UNGA 2758, I would like to point out that Bonnie has done a tremendous work in refuting Beijing’s wrongful claim. Thanks to her effort, the US government now publicly states that the resolution does not constitute one-China principle, does not exclude Taiwan from international participation, does not prohibit any country from engaging Taiwan, and has no bearing on Taiwan’s legal status.

Until now, the PLA actions around Taiwan are still characterized as grey zone activities—actions fall below the threshold of a kinetic war. They include military planes and naval vessels stopping at the 24 nautical mile line, intrusion of coast guard or survey ships into the restricted or prohibited waters in our outer islets, infiltration, cyberattacks, disinformation campaign, cognitive warfare, etc.

Some studies have found that Taiwan is the world’s number one target of cyberattacks, in an average of 2.4 million per day last year. The newest grey zone activity conducted by China is to snap our undersea communication cables with substandard cargo ships that come with multiple registrations, multiple names, and multiple AIS. This is an issue Europe can now connect with us, with what happened in the Baltic Sea. 

Some friends have described that the PRC has already started the war on Taiwan, not by tanks and missiles, but by algorithms and legalese across the cognitive domain.

It is trying to shape our belief that the war in Ukraine was started by the United States, that the US cannot be trusted, that it is using Taiwan against China much like it used Ukraine against Russia, and that it is ready to abandon us as soon the war starts.

China also wants us to believe that in between the United States and the People’s Republic, Taiwan should stay neutral by steering away from the US and to move closer to China in order to strike a balance. It is also trying to convince our people that self-defense is provocative, procuring arms will draw Taiwan close to war, it is futile to defend ourselves, and self-defense will only mean destruction and atrocity. In a nutshell, the PRC wants to fold Taiwan up into annexation by hybrid means, without a gunshot.

I need to further point out that the danger of the PRC expansionism does not stop at Taiwan. You have all noticed that the Philippines was dealt with ruthlessly by the China Coast Guard. Japan has also endured regular maritime and airspace intrusions. The CCG vessels are now chasing away Japanese fishing boats in the waters administered by Japan. The PRC also declare the median line between Korea and China does not exist and has built large platforms over it.

Simply put, China’s expansionism is a common challenge faced by all countries on the first island chain.

Furthermore, down under, Australia has also faced unprecedented interference, in the cyber space or otherwise. And in February, a PLA naval fleet conducted live-fire drills at Tasman Sea, without bothering to give Canberra a heads-up. For your information, the PLA Navy did the same thing to Vietnam and Taiwan around the same period of time.

In mid-December last year, the PLA Navy assembled more than 90 large naval and coast guard vessels in the East and South China Seas, Taiwan Strait, and the West Pacific. I stress “large vessels” here because only they can operate in the unruly winter waters in the region. The exercise was not named, but by looking at the military intelligence mapping, I cannot help thinking that the PRC was rehearsing its war against Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines at the same time while trying to deny US and allies’ access into the first island chain. Yes, it is that serious.

Facing the worsening security environment in the Indo-Pacific, Taiwan has adopted several security-related policies, and I would like to share with you briefly.

1. We will not provoke. We understand the importance and our responsibilities of maintaining peace and stability. We will stay moderate, predictable, and responsible. Safeguarding the status quo will be our core concept, and Taiwan will not be a provocateur.
2. We will defend. We will invest seriously in our defense capability, especially in the area of asymmetric warfare to deter aggression. We learn from history that being weak attracts aggression. We are determined to defend our freedom and sovereignty, peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific, and the status quo across Taiwan Strait.
3. We will prepare. We are now engaging in whole of society defense resilience, making sufficient stockpiling of food, water, medicines, and energy. We will build sufficient medical facilities and emergency shelters. We will also ensure the resilience of communication and take concrete measures against infiltration attempts.
4. We will engage. We will continue to enhance our relations with democratic partners throughout the world, who share our core values of freedom, human rights, and rule of law, and treasure peace, stability, prosperity, and the status quo in the Indo-Pacific.

Knowing well that China is the decisive enabler of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and in the face of growing threat when Beijing, Moscow, Tehran and Pyongyang are collaborating closer with each other with a clear intent to expand, to sabotage the rules-based international order, and to tarnish the values we hold dear, we the democracies must unite.

We know fully well that the fall of Taiwan will not be the end, for the world now is of one theater and the cost for not stopping the PRC aggression will be too much to bear.

My dear European friends, we must recall the hard-learned lessons of the past, such as the tragedy of Sudetenland. We must say no to the aggressor unequivocally to stop it from stumbling upon another major and irreversible historical mistake. And at this juncture, Europe’s voice matters. I would like to urge my European friends adopt following measures:

1. Please continue to speak out against any unilateral attempt to change the status quo in the Taiwan Strait by force or coercion. Please also identify that the PRC military threats have clearly violated the most fundamental principle of the UN Charter—peaceful resolution to any dispute.
2. Please take actions, whether diplomatic, economic, or otherwise, to back up those words by embracing Taiwan.
3. Please be cautious when referring to “one China,” as the concept is now employed by the PRC to legitimize its aggression against Taiwan.
4. And please stay united by holding our shared values close to our hearts. We are only stronger when we are together. When democracies stand together, authoritarians will hesitate.

Ladies and gentlemen, the lessons of history are often forgotten. But when I walk past remnants of the Berlin Wall, I remember that there was a time when the western half of this city was a lonely island, surrounded, encircled, and threatened.

But one man stood here on June 26, 1963 and proclaimed: Ich bin ein Berliner. Those words did not tear down the wall, but fortified the will to endure. And that endurance and the strong sense of unity ultimately brought freedom back to a united Berlin.

Today, Taiwan in a sense is a lonely island, too. An island surrounded not by bricks and barbed wire, but by diplomatic isolation, grey zone coercion, hybrid and legal warfare. But just as Berlin once stood as a sentinel of liberty, so too does Taiwan stand today—a bastion of freedom in the Indo-Pacific. If we remain united, and if we hold the line, then one day Taiwan’s story will be like Berlin’s:

A story not of surrender, but of survival;

Not of fear, but of freedom.

Thank you.