TAIPEI, Sept 11 (Reuters) – Taiwan Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim is making a rare visit to Europe, attending a forum on democracy in Italy along with Taipei’s foreign minister, the presidential office said on Friday.
While Taiwan’s foreign ministers on occasion visit Europe and other parts of the world that have no formal ties to the Chinese-claimed island, it is rare for an official as senior as the vice president to do so, given the risk of a backlash from Beijing against the host nation.
China says Taiwan is one of its provinces, a view the democratically-governed island strongly rejects.
Hsiao has been invited to attend the Ventotene Conference for Freedom and Democracy, and is travelling with Taiwan Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung, the presidential office said in a brief statement.
Other details will be provided once she returns to Taiwan, it added.
Neither China nor Italy’s foreign ministries immediately responded to requests for comment.
The Ventotene conference takes place from Thursday until Saturday this week.
Early on Friday Asia time, Pina Picierno, Vice-President of the European Parliament, announced on her Facebook page that Hsiao was attending the conference, saying her presence had been kept secret until her arrival to protect her participation.
Italy, like most countries, has no formal diplomatic ties to Chinese-claimed Taiwan.
Last November, Hsiao spoke at the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China’s annual summit, held in the European Parliament in Brussels.
Taiwan has sought closer ties with Europe, especially since the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Europe has its own disputes with China, over both trade imbalances and also its criticism of what it sees as Chinese support for Russia.
Hsiao, a fluent English speaker, has previously been sanctioned by China for being an “independence diehard”.
Taiwan’s government says only the island’s people can decide their future.
(Reporting by Yimou Lee and Ben Blanchard; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Michael Perry)
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