Taiwan VP's Europe speech sparks baseless donation claims

"France's BBC reported that Taiwan donated eight billion euros (US$9.2 billion) so the vice president can go up and spout nonsense for 20 minutes," reads a Threads post written in traditional Chinese and shared November 9, 2025.

"Using it for cash handouts would surely be better than just standing there spouting empty words!"

The featured photo shows Hsiao speaking in the European Parliament, overlaid with Chinese text that reads: "Venue: rented by me; conference: sponsored by me; reputation: went to me; expenses: paid for by the people."

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Screenshot of the false Threads post captured November 12, 2025, with red X marks added by AFP

The post surfaced after Hsiao travelled to Brussels to address the summit of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China (IPAC), an organisation composed of lawmakers from various countries.

Taiwan's Central News Agency called the address "historic", saying Hsiao was the first Taiwanese vice president to deliver a speech in a European parliament while in office (archived link).

During her speech, she urged Europe to boost security and trade ties with the self-ruled island and support its democracy in the face of growing threats from China (archived link).

China claims all of Taiwan as part of its territory and has threatened to use force to bring it under its control. Beijing has also repeatedly criticised Taiwanese politicians' trips overseas (archived here, here and here).

These include former president Tsai Ing-wen's speech at a forum in Germany on November 10, and presidential advisor Lin Hsin-i's meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi during the APEC summit in South Korea (archived here and here).

The Chinese mission to the European Union slammed IPAC for letting Hsiao take the stage, saying in a statement on November 8 that her appearance "seriously erodes the political mutual trust" between Beijing and the bloc (archived link). 

The claim that Taiwan donated billions to IPAC was also shared on Facebook, with some social media users criticising the Taiwanese government for supposedly wasting public funds.

"It is really an expensive speech," one commented.

Another wrote, "Eight billion euros? That's equivalent to 280 billion New Taiwan dollars! Where did it go? Didn't the National Health Insurance say it was short 20 billion?"

'Malicious rumour'

Taiwanese authorities and IPAC separately dismissed the posts, which were earlier debunked by news organisations Taiwan FactCheck Center and MyGoPen (archived here and here).

"This is a malicious rumour and has been handed over to the police for investigation in accordance with the law," Taiwan's presidential office spokesperson Karen Kuo wrote on her Threads account on November 10 (archived link).

"The IPAC invitation was relayed through our foreign mission, and the vice president attended upon invitation."

Two men are under investigation for spreading the claims (archived link).

Taiwan's representative office in France has similarly refuted the allegation in a statement shared on Facebook on November 9 (archived link).

"We appreciate everyone's confidence in Taiwan's financial strength, but the imagination is higher than the Eiffel Tower," the office said, reminding people to fact-check before sharing posts on social media.

Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs publishes records of donations to other countries -- including to war-torn Ukraine and nations hit by natural disasters such as Turkey -- but there is no record of IPAC as a recipient (archived here and here).

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Graphic showing Taiwan's diplomatic allies by region and the countries that have broken or established ties with Taiwan since 2000

IPAC's Executive Director Luke de Pulford told AFP the claim is "false and defamatory".

"We are soliciting legal advice with a view to taking action. The IPAC network is owned and controlled by its lawmaker members and served by a small Secretariat, operating on a limited budget, and punching well above its weight," he wrote in a November 10 email.

He added Hsiao attended IPAC's summit at his invitation. 

"I came up with the idea, as I did with many of the other invitations to the Summit. Our EU Co-Chairs of IPAC loved the idea, and sent an invitation to the Vice President."

IPAC's website states it does not accept funds from institutions under direct state control (archived link).

The false posts also cite "France's BBC" as its source, but the BBC is a British broadcaster (archived link).

Although the outlet provides a French-language service, it is targeted to African audiences and no relevant report was found on its website (archived link). 

AFP has previously debunked other misinformation related to Taiwan.