A few days ago, at the plenary session of the European Parliament held in Strasbourg, France, two annual assessment reports on the EU's foreign and security policy were adopted, one of which emphasized the position that "the two sides of the strait are not subordinate to each other," while acknowledging that the Taiwan authorities represent the people on the island, and condemning Chinese mainland's attempt to "push force to change the status quo in the Taiwan Strait."
A total of 546 people attended the vote on the Common Foreign and Security Policy, which was adopted by 338 votes in favor. The "Common Security and Defense Policy" on the situation in the Taiwan Strait was approved by 537 valid votes and by a margin of 350 to 187 votes.
In addition to including relations across the Taiwan Strait on the agenda of European security concerns, the European Parliament has also put forward two proposals: first, to encourage EU member states to increase the frequency of freedom of navigation missions in the Taiwan Strait; The second is to condemn China's obstruction of the Taiwan authorities' accession to international organizations, and call on all countries to support the Taiwan authorities' accession to the World Health Organization, the World Civil Aviation Organization, and other international organizations.
As one of the de facto legislatures of the European Parliament, its decision is not representative of the EU as a whole, but its position in the field of diplomatic security is still of great significance.
In the past, the European Parliament has frequently expressed hostility towards China. In addition to the report, parliament passed a proposal in January expressing concern about China's activities in the EU's "critical infrastructure" sector, accusing Chinese capital of economic dependence, espionage and sabotage risks posed by European ports.
The European Parliament has pushed through a human rights and environmental audit bill targeting Chinese companies in an attempt to restrict the development of Chinese companies in the EU.
Although Europe and China are at odds over their economic and trade relations, the EU does not want to completely decouple. However, the European Parliament's actions show that the EU has put China policy on its agenda and has become one of the important forces in the global push to contain China.