Taiwanese Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) is in Italy attending a democracy forum.
Vice-presidential trips to countries without diplomatic ties with Taiwan are rare — when current President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) was vice president, the only known examples were transit stops in the U.S. on the way to Central and South America and a trip to Japan for Shinzo Abe’s funeral.
But in her two years in office, Hsiao has now made two visits to European countries. The trend seems to be reflective of greater ties between Taiwan and Europe.
Taiwan’s presidential office revealed today that Hsiao is in Italy attending the Ventotene Conference for Freedom and Democracy, which is held on the island of Ventotene near Naples.
Details about Hsiao’s trip are being kept deliberately quiet, and the vice president has not made any statement herself. Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that more information will be available after her return.
Pina Picierno, a vice president of the European Parliament who founded the Ventotene Conference last year, said on Facebook that Hsiao’s presence was kept secret until her arrival to protect her participation.
“Intimidation cannot decide who participates in our democratic debate,” she wrote in Italian. “Freedom of debate is not negotiable with autocracies.”
The conference is organized by the European Parliament Office in Italy.
Last year, Hsiao attended the 2025 annual summit of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China, or IPAC, a group of parliamentarians from democracies around the world. The event was held inside the European Parliament building in Brussels, but Hsiao was not a guest of the parliament per se.
There has been no announcement that Hsiao will give a speech at the Ventotene Conference, but it would be surprising if she did not.
It will be fascinating to see who, if anyone, she appears alongside in the program. It is to be hoped that Taiwan’s team has done their homework — Picierno’s European Democratic Party is openly Trump-skeptic and it would be unfortunate for Taiwan if Hsiao is caught up in any association with that.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍), who is accompanying Hsiao on the trip, has already made two visits to Italy in his two years in office. President Lai met an Italian parliamentary delegation on September 1 led by Senate Vice President Gian Marco Centinaio and pointed out that Italy is Taiwan’s fourth-largest trading partner within the European Union.
The Italian parliament passed a law in July that will protect museum artworks on temporary loan from seizure. Taiwan’s foreign ministry said the bill aims to facilitate the exhibition of Taiwan’s precious artifacts. This kind of law is a common precaution that Taiwan requests from foreign countries if it is sending national treasures abroad, to protect from Chinese interference.
It is not known when Hsiao will leave Italy or if she has any other stops on her itinerary. China’s efforts to isolate Taiwan diplomatically this year have included allegedly pressuring countries not to allow President Lai to overfly their territory. It would be natural if there were similar concerns about Hsiao’s return.
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