VP Hsiao attends conference in Italy

FREEDOM EVENT: ‘No one can dictate who may be hosted on European soil,’ an organizer said after China had complained about the vice president being invited

Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) is visiting Italy to attend an international conference on freedom and democracy, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said yesterday, confirming a previously unannounced trip.

The organizers invited Hsiao to attend the Second Ventotene European Conference for Freedom and Democracy, which is being held on the Italian island of Ventotene from Thursday to today, the ministry said in a statement.

She was accompanied by Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍), it said.

Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim attends an event in Taipei on Aug. 31.

Photo: Wang Wen-lin, Taipei Times

The Presidential Office would provide more information about the trip after Hsiao returns to Taiwan, it said, without saying when she departed Taiwan or when she would return.

The confirmation came after European Parliament Vice President Pina Picierno, the main initiator of the conference, late on Thursday announced during the event that Hsiao had arrived in Italy, despite Beijing’s attempt to prevent the trip from happening.

Hsiao’s participation had not been announced beforehand.

“No one can dictate who may be hosted on European soil, which voices may be heard, or who must be kept hidden,” Picierno said in an Italian-language social media post late on Thursday.

“That is why today we welcomed the vice president of Taiwan, Hsiao Bi-khim, to Ventotene — her presence was kept confidential until her arrival to safeguard her participation in the Second European Ventotene Conference for Freedom and Democracy,” she wrote.

“The message is simple and crystal clear: Intimidation cannot determine who takes part in our democratic debate,” she said. “Freedom of dialogue is not up for negotiation with autocracies. And Ventotene, today more than ever, must remain a place where freedom and democracy are defended without fear.”

Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC) executive director Luke de Pulford backed Hsiao’s participation at the event.

“The only response to Beijing’s attempt to shrink the world for Taiwanese people is to show that Taiwan is welcome,” De Pulford said.

This is “not simply because it is in our national interest to do so, but because it is wholly wrong to allow a democracy like Taiwan to be persecuted and outcast on the international stage,” he said.

The ministry also pushed back against Beijing’s criticism of Hsiao’s visit.

China has no right to dictate Hsiao’s participation in events she was invited to by the European Parliament, ministry spokesperson Hsiao Kuang-wei (蕭光偉) said.

Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Mao Ning (毛寧) earlier yesterday said that Beijing had lodged solemn representations with Italy and the EU over the visit.

China consistently opposes any form of official contact between Taiwan and countries that have diplomatic relations with China, Mao said, calling Beijing’s “one China” principle the political foundation of China-Italy and China-EU relations.

The trip to Italy marks the second time Hsiao has visited Europe since taking office in May 2024.

She last visited Europe in November last year to deliver an address at an IPAC meeting in Brussels.