Beijing urges French senators to consider China relationship and rethink trip to Taiwan next week

Senator Alain Richard is expected to lead the French Senate Group for Exchange and Studies with Taiwan from October 4 to 11

Analyst points to impact on China’s relationship with Czech Republic and Lithuania after those countries engaged with Taiwan

Reading Time:2 minutes

99+

French Senator Alain Richard is expected to lead a delegation to Taiwan next week, despite protestations from Beijing. Photo: NurPhoto via Getty Images

Published: 4:00pm, 1 Oct 2021Updated: 11:26pm, 1 Oct 2021

A French senate delegation will visit Taiwan next week despite repeated objections from Beijing, including warnings by the Chinese ambassador to France that the trip would “needlessly disrupt” relations between their countries.

Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying on Thursday said Beijing was “firmly opposed” to any official exchanges or contact between individual French senators and the authorities in Taiwan, a democratic island that Beijing claims as its own.

French Senator Alain Richard, a former defence minister, is expected to lead the French Senate Group for Exchange and Studies with Taiwan from October 4 to 11.

“We urge the relevant individuals to strictly abide by the one-China principle and to maintain a good environment for the normal development of bilateral relations,” Hua said.

The Chinese embassy in France has called on the French senators to “reconsider” their decision, warning that the move would harm China’s “core interests” with Taiwan and undermine relations between Beijing and Paris. Taiwan’s foreign ministry has said it “enthusiastically” welcomed the delegation, and France’s foreign ministry has said it would not interfere in the planned trip.

In March, when Richard first revealed the delegation’s travel plans, China’s ambassador to France Lu Shaye wrote a letter outlining how such a trip would “needlessly disrupt” the countries’ bilateral ties and would be exploited by “pro-independence forces” in Taiwan. Lu, one of China’s most outspoken diplomats, was later summoned by France’s foreign ministry after the embassy lashed out at Antoine Bondaz, a research fellow at the French think tank Foundation for Strategic Research, over tweets relating to the French delegation’s Taiwan travel plans.

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x