Both Facing Beijing’s Coercion, Sweden Strengthens Ties with Taiwan

Good news! Hope other Western countries will follow Sweden! 

"Amidst growing Chinese pressure, a bipartisan group of Swedish parliamentarians has called on the government to support Taiwan the same way they have supported Ukraine since February. [The] head of the Swedish-Taiwanese Parliamentarian Association, said that Taiwan’s outstanding performance with regard to freedom, democracy, and human rights has inspired the world. She also underlined that democracies must unite to support Taiwan’s values ​​of freedom and democracy. The recent Swedish parliamentary delegation to Taiwan has helped to underline Stockholm’s determination to strengthen ties with Taipei, enhance Taiwan’s status, and put Taiwan in the spotlight in both Europe and the Indo-Pacific region. 

With Swedish lawmakers’ active engagement in filing a motion towards changing the name of Sweden’s representative office in Taiwan to “House of Sweden,” the Swedish parliament approved the proposal in late April, indicating the will of Sweden to elevate the relationship with Taiwan to a higher level. The potential name change could help expand Stockholm’s ties with Taipei beyond economic linkages. According to Sweden Democrats Member of Parliament Markus Wiechel, the name change could denote that Taiwan should be seen as a nation, rather than a province of China. ...

Declining Sweden-China Relations

In recent years, Sweden has increasingly voiced concerns over the deterioration of democracy and human rights in China. To make the situation worse, China’s image in Sweden has declined precipitously, with nearly 60 percent of Swedes indicating that their general view of China worsened over the previous three years, according to a 2020 survey conducted by the Swedish Institute of International Affairs (SIIA-UI). 

Sweden and China have locked horns over human rights since 2015, with the detention of Swedish bookseller Gui Minhai ... The diplomatic deterioration escalated in a diplomatic spat in 2018 when Chinese tourists were thrown out of a hotel by Swedish police, a move that stirred up a tit-for-tat retaliation between Chinese and Swedish netizens."

Vol. 7, Issue 9 – Global Taiwan Institute