How the EU discovers – and endangers

By Joern-Carsten Gottwald, Steffi Weil and Markus Taube

Joern-Carsten Gottwald, Professor at the Ruhr University Bochum; Steffi Weil, Professor at the University of Antwerp; Markus Taube, Professor at the University of Duisburg-Essen.

With closer ties to Taiwan, the EU wants to strengthen a democratic value partner and, at the same time, secure access to advanced chips. But semiconductor production in Europe, in particular, could weaken Taiwan. The solution lies in the flight forward – in even more extensive cooperation.

The EU sees itself as a normative power. In its common foreign and security policy, it wants to represent fundamental values. The EU also sees itself – and rightly so – as a global power. From its undeniably great economic importance, the EU derives – again quite rightly – the need to represent its interests globally, especially in the Indo-Pacific. The EU is thus becoming an increasingly important factor in the escalating conflict between the US and China. Be it with regard to the strategic readjustment of trade flows, the imposition of technology boycotts against Chinese companies or the treatment of Taiwan in the global system.

How the EU discovers – and endangers – Taiwan

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