China attacks EU: 'Taiwanese leader welcomed in European Parliament'

Diplomatic clash between China and the European Union. The Chinese mission in Brussels issued a scathing note protesting the fact that yesterday the vice-president of Taiwan, Bi-khim Hsiao, was invited to speak in the European Parliament, unannounced, at an event organised by the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (Ipac).

It was the first speech by a senior member of the Taiwanese government in a foreign parliament. "It is a move," Beijing attacks, "that seriously violates the principle of one China, seriously interferes in our internal affairs and seriously undermines mutual political trust between China and the EU."