CEE – Taiwan Insight

Technology is the new Priority in Central and Eastern Europe’s Accelerating Relations with Taiwan

1 November 2021 Editor

Written by Richard Q. Turcsanyi and David Hutt. On October 20-30, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, and Lithuania will receive a large business delegation from Taiwan led by National Development Council Minister Kung Ming-hsin. This will include the Minister of Science and Technology, Wu Tsung-tsong, and the new Director-General of Taiwan’s National Space Organization (NSPO), Wu Jong-shinn. In the meantime, foreign minister Joseph Wu will also visit Slovakia and the Czech Republic during the same time.

Is the best friend of Taiwan in Europe the Czech Republic?

31 July 2020 Editor

Written by Richard Q. Turcsanyi. Perhaps in the clearest form, the Czech Republic symbolises contradictory attitudes towards Beijing and Taipei found in former Communist countries in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). While for part of the society Taiwan symbolises own rejection of Communist past and sympathy towards humanistic ideals, others are not willing to endanger promises of benefits (real or imaginary) of pragmatic developing relations with China.

Clash of Mask Diplomacies? The COVID-19 and Changing Perceptions of China and Taiwan in Central and Eastern Europe

30 July 2020 Editor

Written by Tamás Peragovics and Ágnes Szunomár. It has become a truism that China’s mask diplomacy seeks to enhance the country’s global standing in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. By exporting medical aid and equipment, the Beijing Government rushes to the rescue of countries still struggling to contain the virus. Positioning itself as saviour rather than villain, China’s motivation is to cultivate a global aura of blissful ignorance with regards to the outbreak’s early mismanagement, including the silencing of Chinese whistle-blowers who emphasized contagion risks and tried to warn of the severity of the new pathogen.