2024-03-14
EETO Head of the Trade Section talks EU’s Economic Security and its implication for Asia
Programme of European Union Studies (PEUS) of NCCU invites Ms. Aleksandra Kozlowska, the Head of the Trade Section of the European Economic and Trade Office (EETO) in Taipei, to share her perspective on EU’s Economic Security and her experience as an EU Diplomat.
Ms. Kozlowska warmly began the talk by presenting the EU as a substantial economic power in the world and in Asia. She then talked about the development of EU-Taiwan relations by putting into a regional context. She mentioned that working as an EU diplomat in EETO is a special experience comparing to working in other states since Taiwan has a special status in world politics. That being said, the EU still proactively engages in relations with Taiwan since Taiwan is an important, like-minded partner economic partner situated in a region that the EU values greatly, the Indo-Pacific. In terms of the economic ties, Taiwan is EU’s 4th largest trading partner in Asia, behind China, Japan and Korea, while EU is Taiwan’s largest FDI investor. Recently, EU mostly invests on green energy projects such as establishing offshore wind turbines. Also, Taiwan’s semi-conductor and ICT industry possess high potential in the international supply chain. Therefore, in order to maintain positive economic relations with Taiwan and other trading partners of the region, the top priority for the EU in the region is to maintain stability and peace.
Ms. Kozlowska then introduced the EU’s stance on economic security. She mentioned that there are four types of risk that will threatened EU’s economic security, which are risk on supply chain, risk on critical infrastructure and technologies, and economic coercion. The EU needs to avoid over-dependent on any single supplier, and make sure that the EU possesses the comparative advantage on crucial technology. Therefore, she introduced three pillars for the EU to maintain economic security, which are “protect, promote, and partnership”. EU will enforce export control and sanction to protect critical industry, and the EU should focus more on forming partnership with like-minded partners that are trustworthy.
In the final part of the lecture, Ms. Kozlowska opened the floor to the students. The students were curious about not only the prospects of the the EU-Taiwan relations, but also about her career as an EU diplomat. Ms. Kozlowska answered all questions with perceptive and candid response, which encouraged the students to think beyond the apparent and inspired the young minds to excel in their own ways.
.JPG)
