By Ben Blanchard
TAIPEI (Reuters) -In an arms market long dominated by the United States, Europe raised its profile at Taiwan’s largest defence show last week as countries there take tentative steps to help the island deal with an increasingly aggressive China.
Democratically governed Taiwan has traditionally relied on the United States for most of its arms purchases, with no major orders from Europe for three decades due to the fear of incurring the wrath of Beijing, which views the island as its own territory. Taiwan rejects China’s sovereignty claims and says only the island’s people can decide their future.
While many countries, especially in Europe, are nervous about any defence cooperation with Taiwan due to fears of Chinese retaliation, Taipei has found an increasingly sympathetic ear in parts of central and eastern Europe, especially since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
Taiwan Defence Minister Wellington Koo visited the Czech pavilion at last week’s Taipei Aerospace and Defence Technology Exhibition, where he was greeted by Pavel Fischer, chairman of the Czech Senate’s Foreign Affairs, Defence and Security Committee.
“Today in Taiwan we have many partners to work with,” Fischer told Reuters. “We know the complexity of Taiwan in the international arena, because of the active measures by the Communist Party of China.”
The German Trade Office Taipei took part in the exhibition for the first time, saying it was “presenting Germany’s innovative achievements and industrial strength in the fields of aerospace and security”.
Airbus, also debuting at the show, had a large Flexrotor tactical vertical take-off and landing drone on display, designed for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions of up to 14 hours. The model had a sticker that read: “I heart Taiwan”.
An Airbus spokesperson said its stand was promoting products and services beyond commercial aircraft.
“These include helicopter applications for supporting search and rescue missions, emergency services and law enforcement, as well as secure communications services,” the spokesperson said.
In a further sign of Europe being less nervous about interactions with Taipei, Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung this month visited Prague, Rome and Vienna. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi was in Austria just a week prior to Lin.
U.S. companies remained a major presence at the show, including Lockheed Martin, which makes the F-16 fighter, the mainstay of Taiwan’s air force. In contrast, Europe has not provided Taipei with big-ticket items for some three decades.
When the Netherlands sold Taiwan two submarines in the 1980s, China was so infuriated that the Dutch government subsequently promised not to allow any more arms sales to Taiwan.
In 1991, France sold Taiwan six frigates, and 60 Mirage jets the next year. It has not sold Taipei any other major weapons systems since.
Still, Britain is involved in helping Taiwan build its first indigenous submarines.
“There is much less caution now. The world has changed because of Ukraine,” said one executive at a Taiwanese military-use drone manufacturer that works with European partners, asking not to be identified for security reasons.
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Editing by Michael Perry)
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