Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Huang Kuo-shu speaks at the legislature in Taipei in an undated photograph.
Photo: Hsieh Chun-lin, Taipei Times

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Huang Kuo-shu (黃國書) yesterday said he would leave the party and would not seek re-election, as he confirmed a report that he worked as an informant for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) authoritarian regime when he was a student.

On Wednesday last week, the European Parliament passed a resolution, by a large majority, that advanced a proposal for the EU and US to work together to reduce tensions in the Taiwan Strait. The resolution also stated that the EU’s Indo-Pacific strategy being promoted by the political and economic bloc should be augmented to include Japan, Taiwan and other democratic nations that share common values.

The resolution was suffused with meaning as it was passed just several days after a record number of the People’s Liberation Army military airplanes flew into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone. It indicates that the EU is preparing to unveil some form of action to support Taiwan, and demonstrates that the bloc is determined to work together with Asian democracies to maintain the security of the Taiwan Strait and the wider Indo-Pacific region.