China, France, Taiwan In Paris, Chinese embassy maintains pressure on Taiwanese diplomats
Although considered more polite than his predecessor, China’s ambassador to France, Deng Li, is pursuing the embassy’s activism against Taiwanese influence, as a recent incident during a tea competition in Paris illustrates.
The appointment of China’s new ambassador in Paris, Deng Li has not loosened Beijing’s position on Taiwanese influence in France, far from it. A recent fuss, kicked up on 2 December by two individuals during the award ceremony for Taiwanese nationals at an international competition for tea professionals in the French capital, is the latest example of China’s attitude. Intelligence Online has learned that the disrupters at the event were identified as being two diplomats from the Chinese embassy, C. G., agricultural affairs adviser, and L. Q., first secretary for science and technology.
Officially, the hecklers were supposed to represent the People’s Republic of China in the competition. But when a Taiwanese competitor went to collect an award, a man stood up and proclaimed that: “Taiwan [was] just a province [of China]”. A woman then added “Taiwan is part of China”. The two diplomats’ remarks came after a Taiwanese winner presented his home country as a “country”.
The Taiwanese winner was then applauded by the crowd, bringing the incident to a close. The two Chinese diplomats subsequently slipped away after the ceremony, leaving the cocktail party to be enjoyed by solely Taiwanese participants.
Monitor and stiffle
While the incident may appear insignificant, it betrays Chinese ambassador Deng Li’s efforts to monitor and stifle Taiwan’s diplomatic and institutional presence in France (IO, 08/05/25).
This 8th edition of the “Les Thés du Monde” international tea competition was organised by AVPA, an apolitical French association promoting agricultural products. But the competition itself was held at the elegant Peruvian embassy in Paris. Such a location gave the event an official and diplomatic veneer: any mention of Taiwan could be seen, in Beijing’s eyes, as breaking with the taboo of official state recognition.
In another recent example of the Chinese Paris embassy’s efforts to hinder any official representation of Taiwan in France, last month, it approached the Institut de France several times to prevent the 29th Franco-Taiwanese Cultural Foundation prize from being awarded at the Académie des sciences morales et politiques.
Surveillance and drones
Additionally, last month’s opening of the “Dragons” exhibition in Paris at the Musée du quai Branly – Jacques Chirac, organised with Taipei’s national museum, was much more subdued that the launch in great fanfare of the “100 Treasures, 100 Stories” exhibition held two months earlier in Prague in the presence of Taiwan’s foreign affairs minister Lin Chia-lung and culture minister and writer Li Yuan (IO, 03/11/25).
A few days before it attended the opening in the Czech Republic, a delegation of Taiwanese lawmakers led by Li Yuan, were followed by Beijing agents in Paris. During a meal with their French counterparts, members of the delegation noticed the presence of two individuals who were blatantly observing them.
Two other recent incidents have sent alarm bells ringing among Taiwan’s diplomatic community in France. A Taiwanese defence attaché who was being followed was forced to film his tail in order to shake him off. He sent the images to his intelligence services. The employees of the Taipei Representative Office in France in central Paris were for their part surprised to see a drone flying above their building. When contacted, the Chinese embassy in Paris did not respond to our requests for comment.
