ELF’s new policy paper by Dr. Laia Comerma explores Taiwan’s role within the EU’s Indo-Pacific vision, highlighting its contributions to semiconductors, resilient supply chains, cybersecurity, and maritime governance.
The European Union’s Indo-Pacific Strategy marks a shift in its geopolitical positioning, acknowledging Taiwan as a strategic economic and technological partner while maintaining a cautious approach to formalizing ties. ELF’s new policy paper by Dr. Laia Comerma explores Taiwan’s role within the EU’s Indo-Pacific vision, highlighting its contributions to semiconductors, resilient supply chains, cybersecurity, and maritime governance.
Despite shared democratic values and growing trade ties, the EU continues to treat Taiwan as a “second-tier partner”, prioritizing economic engagement over political or security commitments. The EU’s balancing act between Taiwan and China remains a central challenge, with diverging views among member states complicating a unified approach.
The paper outlines key opportunities for deeper EU-Taiwan cooperation, including cybersecurity collaboration, trade diversification, and strategic regional engagement, while also addressing risks such as geopolitical tensions, economic dependencies, and China’s influence on EU policy. It provides recommendations for enhancing EU-Taiwan ties, strengthening Europe’s role in the Indo-Pacific, and ensuring that Taiwan is not left behind in future EU strategic frameworks.
By clarifying its de-risking strategy and engagement principles, the EU can solidify its position as a credible Indo-Pacific actor while safeguarding economic and security interests in the region.
Dr. Laia Comerma is a postdoctoral researcher under the Hans van Baalen scholarship. She completed her PhD at the Pompeu Fabra University (UPF) and the Barcelona Institute for International Studies (IBEI). Her doctoral dissertation, “The influence of the EU–China economic relationship towards the reconfiguration of the economic regime of global governance”, analyses the norms, rules and institutions structuring the foreign policy relation between China and the EU, and how they are being reformed due to their interaction in the fields of investment, trade, and development infrastructure. Her research fields of interest are foreign policy analysis, Chinese and EU foreign policy, and EU–China relations. She holds a MSc in International relations from the London School of Economics (LSE) and a BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from UPF-UAM-UC3M.