《TAIPEI TIMES》 Taiwan, EU decide their ties, MEP says

健康 國際 地方 蒐奇 影音 財經 娛樂 汽車 時尚 體育 3 C 評論 藝文 玩咖 食譜 地產 專區 TAIPEI TIMES 求職

Member of the European Parliament and Formosa Club acting chair Rihards Kols speaks at the Trusted Technology Forum for Democracies in Taipei yesterday. Photo: CNA

BUILDING LINKS: Taipei and Europe should cooperate ‘so that no single supplier and no single government can hold our shared future hostage,’ an official said

By Lee I-chia / Staff reporter

Beijing has no say in Taiwan’s partnerships with European countries, Formosa Club acting chair Rihards Kols, a member of the European Parliament （MEP）, told a forum in Taipei yesterday.

The Formosa Club, an interparliamentary group of European lawmakers, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs cohosted the Trusted Technology Forum for Democracies, focusing on artificial intelligence （AI） and drone technologies.

In his opening speech, Kols said it is crucial that people meet and understand each other’s concerns, and work out how they can help.

The club has brought European parliamentarians to the second annual forum to understand Taiwan better and seek opportunities for collaboration, he said.

There is a lot of common ground between Taiwan and Europe, he said.

Both want people to live freely and securely, businesses to succeed and to “make our own decisions without someone else threatening to punish us for that,” he said.

There is also a lot the two sides can offer to each other, such as Taiwan’s strengths in semiconductors, electronics and its growing drone industry, and Europe’s experience in manufacturing and industrial technology, he said.

Europe has learned a costly lesson about dependence from treating Russia’s energy as a commercial matter and dismissing warnings about political leverage, and the same mistake cannot be made with the technologies that factories, communications and defense systems rely on, Kols said.

“Before we buy a system, we should know: Who controls it? Where does the data go? Can we repair it?” he said, adding that these questions become more important when hospitals, electricity network and a country’s defense depend on it.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has shown how quickly military designs change and the importance of quickly producing and repairing equipment, he said.

Parliamentarians should work to bring trusted businesses, researchers, investors and policymakers closer together for technology cooperation, he said.

“The European Parliament has called for better market access, greater certainty for investors and closer cooperation with Taiwan on critical technologies. That matters to the company considering an investor, a researcher looking for an industrial partner, or a manufacturer seeking a reliable supplier,” he said.

“Beijing[’s] objections cannot give it a right to decide whom Europeans meet or which partnerships we build,” he said, adding that Taiwan and Europe should be able to pursue opportunities that serve mutual interests.

AI and drones are rapidly becoming fundamental to economies and security, but they carry a heightened vulnerability, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu （吳志中） said.

“In an age of geopolitical competition, authoritarian states are treating these technologies as tools of cohesion and related supply chains as instruments of power to challenge the status quo,” Wu said, adding that Taiwan and Europe feel it directly, from Russia and China.

“How do democracies keep the technologies they depend on in trusted hands?” he asked.

Taiwan stands at the heart of many of the world’s high-tech ecosystems, but its greatest contribution to the free world is not just what it makes, but that the nation’s partners can trust how Taiwan makes it and with whom, he said.

“Taiwan is committed to creating non-red supply chains that are secure, transparent and free of coercive control,” he said. “A stronger, more autonomous Europe and a trusted Taiwan are complementary, not competing.”

Europe leads industrial-based world-class research and a drive toward re-industrialization, while Taiwan leads in semiconductors, AI servers, and the coming wave of physical and embodied AI, he said.

“That combination makes us indispensable to each other,” Wu said. “Together Europe and Taiwan can widen the options available to democracies so that no single supplier and no single government can hold our shared future hostage.”

Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu, center, left, and Formosa Club acting chair Rihards Kols, center, right, pose for a photograph with other event guests at the opening of the Trusted Technology Forum for Democracies in Taipei yesterday.  Photo: CNA

不用抽 不用搶 現在用APP看新聞 保證天天中獎 點我下載APP 按我看活動辦法

《TAIPEI TIMES》 Top bank client numbers increase

《TAIPEI TIMES》 Xi’s lifelong presidency should be opposed: MAC head

30天流量達9500萬！沈伯洋Threads熱度超高 AI直言「這個數字有可能」

不用駕照的四輪電動自行車上市7 萬元有找！置物空間多還有倒車系統

巧合？代抽青年說生日願望送「蔣」市長 3週前小水滴說過了！

比姆巴佩更狂！3歲足球神童踢太好 竟遭「報警離場」轟動全球

台韓國民所得差距一次看！韓創4萬美元里程碑仍晚了台灣一年

自由爆新聞》藍營民調「雙重崩壞」！高金心腹亡命天涯背後「神秘勢力」曝光

蔣萬安內湖737夜市掃街「握手遭拒」 店家嫌吵：沈伯洋都會慢慢走

證實了！頂新集團魏家重返台北101 台北101這麼說

反正躺著連任？蕭敬嚴爆：蔣萬安曾積極做1事探尋直攻總統大位！

新聞360》花蓮鐵票鬆了？資深記者曝翻盤機會大：反傅要催這些票