In a bold and necessary move, the French National Assembly’s Taiwan Friendship Group has publicly rebuked a controversial pro-Beijing report authored by Sophia Chikirou of the far-left La France Insoumise (LFI) party. The group condemned the report for parroting Chinese Communist Party (CCP) propaganda and distorting international law, specifically the United Nations’ position on Taiwan.
The 153-page report—greenlit by the European Affairs Committee on June 17 with minimal debate and a scant eight attendees, half of them LFI members—has triggered an uproar across French political circles. It not only contradicts France’s official position but has been exposed as dangerously aligned with Beijing’s disinformation playbook.
Led by lawmaker Marie-Noëlle Battistel, the Taiwan Friendship Group issued a sharply worded statement rejecting the report’s most egregious claim: that “the United Nations has recognized Taiwan as a province of China.” The group clarified that UN Resolution 2758 merely recognizes the People’s Republic of China as the representative of “China” to the UN. It does not address Taiwan’s sovereignty, nor does it deny Taiwan the possibility of international representation.
This distortion, the group warned, is straight out of Beijing’s propaganda arsenal, weaponizing ambiguity to erase Taiwan from the global map.
“This is not just an internal French issue,” the group said. “It’s part of a global struggle to push back against Beijing’s relentless disinformation campaigns designed to legitimize its aggression and silence dissent.”
The Strategic Stakes
The Taiwan Friendship Group’s statement also emphasized the legal status of the Taiwan Strait as international waters under the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea. The group urged the French government to continue asserting freedom of navigation rights by sending naval vessels through the Strait, joining the US and UK in upholding international norms.
This isn’t just a maritime issue. It’s a litmus test for whether the international community will allow the CCP to rewrite global rules with force and intimidation.
China’s Military Escalation: No Room for Naïveté
As China ramps up its military harassment of Taiwan routinely violating Taiwan’s air defense identification zone and conducting large-scale encirclement drills. The friendship group made clear: France must not be fooled into “engagement” strategies that serve Beijing’s expansionist goals.
The group rejected the report’s recommendation to abandon the European Indo-Pacific strategy and instead align with China. Such a shift, they warned, would not only betray international law but endanger France’s own interests in the Pacific—especially in regions like New Caledonia and French Polynesia, where thousands of French citizens live under growing Chinese influence.
“To yield to China’s narrative is to betray not just Taiwan but our own sovereignty, values, and allies,” the statement read.
A Global Front Is Taking Shape
This statement adds to the growing international resistance against the CCP’s coercion and narrative warfare. From the US Congress to parliaments in Lithuania, Japan, Canada, and now France, lawmakers are increasingly unmasking and rejecting Chinese disinformation—whether it comes in the form of “friendship groups,” academic influence, or compromised policy reports.
This is part of a broader global reckoning: the world is waking up to the fact that the Chinese Communist Party is not just a regional bully—it is an existential threat to truth, democracy, and the rules-based international order.
France Must Lead
In the face of disinformation dressed up as policy, and appeasement masquerading as diplomacy, the Taiwan Friendship Group has set a standard of courage and clarity. France now has a choice: uphold its republican values and global leadership, or drift into the shadows of CCP influence.
The statement concludes with a call to the French government: continue freedom of navigation operations in the Taiwan Strait, uphold the Indo-Pacific strategy, and stand unwaveringly with democratic allies.
Because when the CCP rewrites maps, silences voices, and hijacks laws, silence is not neutrality. It is surrender.
