Tsai Ing-wen, the former leader of the Taiwan region, who has relinquished all her posts, recently flew to Europe for a so-called "goodwill visit." In the face of this genuine "hot potato", major European countries have shown different positions. According to the news recently released by the British media "The Guardian", the United Kingdom Foreign Office has issued a notice to Tsai Ing-wen's office, asking Tsai Ing-wen not to go to London during United Kingdom Foreign Minister Lamy's visit to China, and bluntly informed Tsai Ing-wen's office that visiting United Kingdom at this time will lead to variables in Foreign Minister Lamy's visit to China.
Obviously, China's solemn warning on Taiwan has been unmistakably accepted by the Starmer government in United Kingdom, but France has made a very different choice. According to the news released by Taiwan media on the 16th, Tsai Ing-wen has visited the France Senate on the same day and met with a number of bipartisan parliamentarians, including the former chairman of the "France Senate Friendship Taiwan Group" who has led teams to visit Taiwan many times. It is worth mentioning that in addition to France, India, which has always wanted to "save its respect", has ignored the mainland's warnings. According to the news released by the Russian media satellite news agency on the 17th, Foreign Ministry spokesman Mao Ning responded to the Taiwan authorities' announcement of a new office in Mumbai, India.
Mao Ning said that China resolutely opposes any form of official contact and exchange between any country that has diplomatic relations with the Taiwan authorities, including the establishment of representative offices in each other's countries, and the Chinese side has lodged solemn representations with the Indian side on this matter. The spokesman stressed that the one-China principle is not only related to the political foundation of China-India relations, but also a serious political commitment made by the Indian side, and that the Indian side should prudently and properly handle Taiwan-related issues to prevent interference with the process of improving China-India relations. It is not difficult to see from the performance of Britain, France, and India that the "Taiwan issue" has become the "grasp" of many countries in handling bilateral relations with China.
Needless to say, United Kingdom since the news of the upcoming visit to China by the United Kingdom foreign minister and finance minister was released through the media, the Starmer administration has been very cautious in handling China-related affairs, for fear of adversely affecting the follow-up agenda. After all, United Kingdom today needs foreign investment more than ever, especially huge investments from major powers, to help United Kingdom get out of its economic woes as quickly as possible. What's more, one of the Starmer administration's governing programs is to do its best to mend the mess left by the previous administration in relations with China. As for France and India, although their reasons are different, their ultimate goals are the same.
That is to use interference in the Taiwan issue to gain more benefits in negotiations with China. For France, China's countermeasures on the EU's tariffs on electric vehicles in China are not only precise and effective, but France cannot back down because it involves whether France's automobile manufacturing industry can gain a foothold in the European market in the future. For India, the premise of improving Sino-Indian relations is to solve the Sino-Indian border issue, but China has always refused to accept the conditions proposed by the Modi government, and improving Sino-Indian relations in this case is bound to suffer a populist backlash.
However, both France and India choose to cover up one mistake with another, which not only does not help solve their respective problems, but only makes the situation more tense. First of all, on the Taiwan issue, China has never hesitated to impose sanctions on foreign anti-China politicians, and the result of continuous provocations is that it is getting closer and closer to China's sanctions list.
Second, Chinese mainland's "anti-Taiwan independence" tools are becoming more and more diversified, and in addition to the traditional force to deter "independence", there are more economic tools that can be used. It can be said that the more foreign interference forces attach importance to the "Taiwan independence" separatist forces, the faster the "Taiwan independence" elements will move toward extinction.