TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Foreign Ministry on Friday rejected Beijing’s objections to a visit by Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) in Italy for a European democracy forum on Ventotene Island.
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Hsiao Kuang-wei (蕭光偉) said “China has no right to interfere,” per Mirror Media. The Presidential Office will provide information about Hsiao’s trip after she returns to Taiwan, he said.
European Parliament Vice President Pina Picierno announced Hsiao's arrival at the second Ventotene Conference for Freedom and Democracy, saying, “I am happy to announce that Hsiao Bi-khim, vice president of Taiwan, has just arrived on the island of Ventotene,” per ANSA. She added, “No one, not even China, can decide who can or cannot speak here.”
Picierno said in a social media post, “Freedom is not only defended at our borders. It is defended wherever it is threatened.” She added that democracies from the Indo-Pacific to the Mediterranean face common challenges from authoritarian regimes, powers seeking to redraw international balances by force, disinformation, and new forms of pressure on their societies, Mirror Media reported.
“That is why dialogue between Europe and Taiwan is important,” Picierno said, stressing that security and freedom are issues that affect everyone. She said the Ventotene forum serves as a reminder that European democracy was born from resistance to totalitarianism and that democracies must defend it with the same determination today.
China’s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Mao Ning said Friday that Beijing had lodged “solemn representations” with Italy and the EU over “Taiwan independence politicians” attending the forum, per Beijing's state-run Xinhua News. Mao accused Taiwan’s government and individual politicians of colluding with external forces to pursue Taiwan independence under the pretext of democracy and freedom.
