Taiwan has right to make friends: VP

DIPLOMACY: ‘Free peoples speak the same language. Free peoples recognize one another,’ the European Parliament vice president said, adding she would visit Taiwan

Taiwan has the same right as anyone else to make friends and work with like-minded partners despite Beijing’s efforts to restrict its international presence, Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said on Friday.

“We believe strongly that like every citizen in the world, we have the right to make friends. We have the right to talk to our friends,” Hsiao said at the Second Ventotene European Conference for Freedom and Democracy on the Italian island of Ventotene.

Taiwan also has the right to work with like-minded partners on solutions to common challenges, she said, adding that it cherishes every opportunity to make its voice heard internationally.

Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim, center, speaks at the Second Ventotene European Conference for Freedom and Democracy in Ventotene, Italy, on Friday.

Photo: CNA

Hsiao attended the conference on Friday as a guest of honor, accompanied by Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍). Her participation was not announced until after she arrived in Italy to prevent interference from Beijing.

The trip is Hsiao’s second to Europe since taking office in May 2024, following a visit to Brussels in November last year to address a meeting of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China.

European Parliament Vice President Pina Picierno, the main organizer of the conference, said Hsiao’s presence had been kept confidential to ensure her participation.

Picierno said the European Parliament’s agenda would not be determined by Beijing.

“Free peoples speak the same language. Free peoples recognize one another,” she said in Italian.

Picierno also accepted Hsiao’s invitation to visit Taiwan, saying the trip would be arranged in the coming weeks and months.

Several Italian politicians also criticized Beijing’s formal protest over Hsiao’s visit.

Italian Senate Vice President Gian Marco Centinaio said hosting Taiwanese officials was an honor as he called China’s protest unacceptable.

Fabrizio Benzoni, deputy leader of the Action party’s group in the Italian Chamber of Deputies, said neither Italy nor the EU should tolerate vetoes or intimidation from Beijing.

Tiziana Nisini, a lawmaker from Italy’s League party, said democratically elected leaders had the right to travel and engage internationally.

Member of the European Parliament Engin Eroglu said Hsiao’s visit reflected Europe’s growing recognition of Taiwan as a partner, adding that increased high-level exchanges in the past few years had become institutionalized to some extent.

During the conference, Hsiao described Ukraine’s situation as a warning that Taiwan must do more to preserve peace by bolstering its defenses, securing its role in global technology supply chains and deepening international partnerships.

Taiwan would neither provoke China nor yield to coercion, and would not change its democratic way of life, she said.

Hsiao said China had long sought to constrain Taiwan’s international space and had targeted and sanctioned her, but that would not stop Taiwan from engaging with the world.

Hsiao recalled her nickname “cat warrior,” saying cats might appear small but can jump several times their height and survive difficult circumstances.

“We in Taiwan believe we are small, but we’re also mighty,” she said.