European lawmakers urge Taiwan to boost defence, unity amid rising China tensions

At the conclusion of a six-day visit to Taiwan by an eight-member European parliamentary delegation, the lawmakers called on Taipei to remain alert and increase its defence spending. "All those who say they want to protect you actually want to conquer you," Ukrainian lawmaker Serhii Soboliev said when asked what lessons Taiwan could learn from Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Soboliev described Kremlin as a "new fascist Nazi regime" that justified its aggression by claiming to defend "so-called Russian-speaking populations," mirroring how Nazi Germany once invoked the protection of ethnic Germans to legitimise its expansion, the Taipei Times reported.

"And what is the reality of this 'protection'? Destroyed citizens," he said. Soboliev urged Taiwan to stop third parties from transferring sensitive technologies to Russia and underlined the urgency of increasing defence spending. "Before the war, we even tried to reduce our defence budget to below 5 per cent. Now we spend more than 50 per cent," he was cited as saying in the Taipei Times report.

Finnish lawmaker Aleksi Jantti, who is visiting Taiwan for the first time, said the delegation was "confused" by arguments that cooperation could appease an aggressor, citing former US president Ronald Reagan, who once said that "every lesson of history tells us that the greater risk lies in appeasement." Jantti also said Taiwanese society should be more cautious about the information it consumes, including Chinese television dramas and platforms, which he said could be used as tools of influence through algorithms.

German lawmaker Till Steffen said an effective constitutional court is also vital to national resilience. After meeting members of the Democratic Progressive Party and the main opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), Steffen said he realised that reaching political consensus can be challenging, but solutions still need to be found, "perhaps behind closed doors."

Since the terms of seven of its 15 justices expired in late October 2024, the Constitutional Court has been unable to fill the vacancies due to a political deadlock between President William Lai and the legislature. Meanwhile, Lithuanian lawmaker Zygimantas Pavilionis, who has visited Taiwan twice before, said cross-strait tensions appeared to have worsened since his last visit two and a half years ago. Pavilionis stressed the need to achieve domestic consensus on defence spending, calling it an "existential issue" for Taiwan. "Unity is the key," he said, adding that shared adversaries of Taiwan and European democracies would take advantage of internal divisions, the Taipei Times reported. (ANI)