Authors

Discussion

While much of the world’s attention has been focused on the kinetic war being waged on Ukraine and the support that numerous Eastern European countries have provided since its onset, it has gone less noticed that many of these same nations have also been waging a quieter diplomatic war on the other side of the world. Since January 2022, they have been at the forefront of improving relations with Taiwan in the face of growing Chinese aggression.

Parliamentary leaders, including Chairs of the Taiwan Caucuses and Foreign Affairs Committees, and other government officials have flown to Taipei to meet with their Taiwanese counterparts. Prague established a sister-city agreement with Taipei, after which Shanghai withdrew from their agreement. Lithuania has gone even further, withdrawing from the 17 + 1 initiative and opening a “Taiwanese” representative office, under that name, in Vilnius, and refused to bow to intense Chinese pressure to reverse these decisions. Meanwhile, these actions have paid dividends back in Europe: Lithuania and Taiwan joined together to fund the rebuilding of schools in Ukraine.

In this presentation, I trace the growing role that Small Power states in Eastern Europe have been playing in Taiwan relations, the effect this has had on their relationship with China, how this has changed the calculus of larger powers in dealing with Taiwan and China, and the possible long-term effects this changing relationship could have in the Indo-Pacific region.