Partners in Peace

"This book will help build strong bridges between Europe and Taiwan by enhancing mutual understanding, inviting Europeans to learn from Taiwan’s experience and arguing for principled solidarity between our democracies." —Reinhard Bütikofer, former Member of the European Parliament “A timely, up-to-date and comprehensive book on the new generation Taiwan-EU relationship with a balanced perspective. Timely, because both sides elected a new leadership in 2024. Up-to-date, because bilateral relations entered a new phase in 2019, and were further elevated after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Comprehensive, because the discussion includes all EU institutions and covers important domains, namely trade and technology. The perspective is balanced because it considers both Taiwan and EU views. In short, a must-read piece.” —Ambassador Dr. Roy Chun LEE, Taipei Representative Office in the EU and Belgium This book addresses the following fundamental questions: With the EU seeing Taiwan as a partner on its own merit (rather than exclusively through the China factor lens), how can the two sides consolidate this new normal, what next? How can they expand cooperation in a way that both increases the EU’s role in shaping Taiwan’s future and empowers Taiwan to exercise agency? Taiwan’s geo-strategic relevance is likely to grow in the Indo-Pacific, a region of great significance to the EU’s own interests. Protecting these will require a more engaged Europe. In this trenchant and engaging volume, Dr. Ferenczy explores what European policy towards the Asian hotspot should be, of interest to policymakers, scholars and journalists. Dr. Zsuzsa Anna Ferenczy is Assistant Professor at the National Dong Hwa University in Hualien, Taiwan, and Affiliated Scholar at the Department of Political Science of Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Between 2008 and 2020 Zsuzsa worked as a political advisor in the European Parliament. Her areas of expertise include European foreign and security policy, Europe’s relations with China and Taiwan in the framework of the Indo-Pacific. In 2019, her first book “Europe, China, and the Limits of Normative Power” was received to wide acclaim.