European and Soviet Perspectives on Future Responses in Taiwan to International and Regional Developments

Abstract

The so-called Taiwan problem is for Western Europeans no problem. There is only an island called Taiwan, which offers very interesting business prospects. It is attracting even more attention since the People's Republic of China (PRC) has made it clear that it does not object to European business activity in Taiwan if political overtones are excluded. Even the Vatican, the only European state that still has diplomatic relations with Taipei, has greater interests on the continent and is represented in Taipei only by a Pronuntius instead of a full-fledged Nuntius. (The Nuntius resident in Bangladesh is also responsible for Taiwan.) Any discussion of European perspectives concerning Taiwan, therefore, means speaking about European business interests on the island; political considerations about Taiwan and its future responses to international and regional developments come into play only insofar as these business interests may be threatened by any internal or external political event. Even Germans, who should be more interested in the problems of a divided nation, are in general ignorant about Taiwan. Of the 1.4 million tourists going to Taiwan in 1982, only 77,807, 5% of the total, were from Europe.