Thread by @WilliamYang120

The European Union’s top intelligence official canceled a trip to #Taiwan after his top-secret preparations were seemingly leaked to #Beijing in advance, according to two diplomats with knowledge of the situation. politico.eu/article/eu-int…

José Casimiro Morgado, director of the European Union Intelligence and Situation Centre, was supposed to make the below-the-radar visit to meet Taiwanese officials in October, according to the diplomats.

However, the EU spy chief’s plan came to a halt after Beijing got hold of the information and put pressure on the EU to scrap what would have been an unusually sensitive visit amid China’s escalating military threats on Taiwan, which Beijing considers part of its own territory.

The development calls into question whether a human or data leak from the EU was involved, with diplomats also concerned about the EU’s change of plans after Beijing’s intervention.

After the initial publication of this article, an EU official briefed on the matter contradicted the understanding in Taipei that Morgado was planning a visit.

He said Morgado had simply planned to hold meetings by phone with Taiwanese officials, but had decided to cancel even this long-distance communication because of the Chinese reaction to last month’s visit to Taipei by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

An EU spokesman said: “As a general rule, we never comment on everyday working activities of the European External Action Service staff in public.” He would not say whether there’s an investigation into possible external leaks about Morgado’s travel plans.

The Chinese Mission to the EU, when asked about Morgado’s original plan, said China “has consistently and firmly opposed any form of official exchanges between the Taiwan region and countries or organizations having diplomatic ties with China.”

The revelation also sheds further light on the quiet diplomacy between the EU and Taiwan, after last year’s covert trip to Brussels by Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Joseph Wu.