EU spy chief's planned visit to Taiwan cancelled over Beijing sensitivities

A secret plan by the European Union’s spy chief to visit Taiwan was scrapped after Beijing learned of the trip and put pressure on the EU to cancel it. Jose Casimiro Morgado, the Portuguese head of the EU’s intelligence services, had been due to fly to Taiwan in October, two months after Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the US House of Representatives, made her controversial visit. The Pelosi trip on August 2 provoked an aggressive military retaliation by China in and around the Taiwan Strait including the launching of short-range ballistic missiles. Two European diplomats who knew of the planned trip by Morgado said the details appeared to have been leaked to Beijing in advance, according to the Washington-based Politico newspaper. The cancellation underlines the intense sensitivities surrounding any trips to Taiwan by western officials. It has not been confirmed whether the latest trip was leaked or whether Beijing discovered the plan by other means. When news broke of the proposed October Taiwan visit, EU officials attempted to downplay the Taipei government’s understanding that Morgado was planning to fly to the island to consult his Taiwanese intelligence counterparts. One EU official told Politico that Morgado was only intending to hold meetings with Taiwanese officials on the phone. But this less controversial form of contact was also cancelled after Beijing’s reaction to Pelosi’s arrival in Taipei in August. “As a general rule we never comment in public on anything related to the daily business of the European Extzernal Action Service (EEAS),” Peter Stano, spokesman for EU foreign affairs and security policy, said. Beijing opposes any form of official exchanges between Taiwan and countries with diplomatic ties to China. The EU is China’s largest trading partner and maintains bilateral relations at the highest level. Morgado is director of the intelligence and situation centre which is part of the EEAS. He took over the spy chief role in 2019 and answers directly to Josep Borrell, high representative for foreign affairs and security policy. Morgado was formerly director-general of Portugal’s strategic defence intelligence service. Meanwhile, as Taipei’s defence ministry announced it had detected 24 Chinese aircraft and five warships around Taiwan, it emerged that the White House is coming under pressure to enhance defence relations with the Taiwanese government.The Senate foreign relations committee is voting on a bill, The Taiwan Policy Act, that would significantly expand arms supplies to Taiwan and impose sanctions on top Chinese officials, including President Xi Zinping, and financial institutions “should China be engaged in a significant escalation in hostile action in or against Taiwan”. In Beijing, Zhu Fenglian, a spokesman for the foreign ministry’s Taiwan affairs office, said the Chinese government strongly opposed the proposed new act and condemned Taipei for “colluding with US Congress people”.