• Taiwan's Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim visits Italy for a secret conference on freedom and democracy, attended by well-known activists, due to threats from China against Taiwanese politicians.
• The conference, organized by the European Parliament, was initiated by Vice President Pina Picierno and aims to send a message against Chinese interference in hosting Taiwanese officials, with Hsiao's visit being considered a significant move.
• Hsiao's visit to Europe marks her third trip since the DPP's election victory in 2024, with previous incidents of Chinese surveillance and intimidation highlighting the ongoing tensions between Taiwan and China over high-level overseas visits by Taiwanese officials.

Taiwan's Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim has arrived in Italy for a visit that was initially kept secret, according to the Presidential Office on Friday.

Hsiao will attend the Second European Conference for Freedom and Democracy on the small island of Ventotene and Taiwan's Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung is accompanying Hsiao, Presidential Office spokesperson Karen Kuo said in a statement.

Well-known activists such as Kremlin critic Yulia Navalnaya and Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya are also attending the three-day conference, which ends on Saturday. The meeting was initiated by European Parliament Vice President Pina Picierno and organized by the parliament's liaison office in Italy.

Visit kept secret due to Chinese threats

Picierno only made Hsiao's visit public at the start of the conference on Thursday, saying that it had been kept secret beforehand because of threats from China against Taiwanese politicians.

Beijing considers democratically governed Taiwan to be part of China, viewing Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), to which Hsiao belongs, as separatist because it stands for Taiwan's independence, although the Taiwanese government has so far not sought a formal declaration of independence. China has threatened to bring Taiwan under its control, including by military force.

"No one can decide who is hosted in Ventotene and who is not," Picierno said. Above all, a "regime" such as the one in China must not be allowed to make such a decision, she said in a video on Facebook. Hsiao's visit was a "very important message," Picierno said.

This is Hsiao's third trip to Europe since the DPP's election victory in 2024. She previously visited Prague in March 2024 as vice president-elect and Brussels in November 2025.

In Prague, Chinese agents followed her motorcade, according to media reports, with the incident nearly resulting in a collision. The Czech intelligence service later linked the incident to a Chinese operation targeting Hsiao that involved surveillance and intimidation.

Taiwan has for some time sought to deepen relations with Europe through high-level visits and parliamentary exchange programs. China opposes high-level overseas visits by Taiwanese officials and seeks to restrict them through pressure.