| Welcome to the special issue of the EU-Taiwan Briefing, where we examine public attitudes toward Taiwan in Central Europe, drawing on a large-scale public opinion survey conducted in early 2025. We look at how Taiwan is perceived across the region, highlight political and demographic divides, and compare today’s results with our 2020 survey to show how views have shifted over time.We also asked respondents in the V4 countries about China’s policy toward Taiwan and whether they would support providing assistance to Taiwan in a potential crisis. Key takeaways:The survey results show that perception of Taiwan is quite favorable, and improved considerably over time. V4 public rejects China’s claims to Taiwan and is critical of Beijing’s assertive policy. Moreover, respondents favor pursuing ties with Taiwan even despite the risk of China’s retaliation. Nevertheless, Taiwan has yet to convert favorable public opinion in Central Europe into concrete policy support during potential crises, creating an urgent need for stronger public diplomacy to build resilience against Chinese influence campaigns. Read here Czechia and Poland remain at the forefront of political and economic engagement with Taiwan. So was Slovakia until 2023. However, since the elections. Prime Minister Robert Fico, Slovakia has pursued an “all-azimuth” foreign policy, placing greater focus on engagement with China, leaving ties with Taiwan to stagnate if not regress. Hungary maintains a pragmatic, economy-focused approach without engaging on a political level. Domestic elections can impact the trajectory of ties with Taiwan. Hence, it is essential to understand how citizens perceive the country. With Czechia heading into parliamentary elections in autumn 2025, understanding the dynamics of public opinion take on added relevance. Central European attitudes toward TaiwanOverall, attitudes toward Taiwan are predominantly positive in all four countries, with Czechia (40%) and Poland (44%) showing the strongest support. In Hungary (34%) and Slovakia (36%), favorability remains lower but has risen significantly since 2020, when both countries held predominantly negative views. At the same time, Taiwan’s image compares favorably with that of China. In all four countries, public opinion toward China is more negative. But one-third of respondents in each country remain neutral toward Taiwan. This presents both Taipei and Beijing with room to further shape public perceptions.   Factors influencing the perception of Taiwan: Significant differences in attitudes toward Taiwan were found around key demographic characteristics. In V4, women, better-educated respondents, and urban residents tended to be more positive towards Taiwan. Some differences can be seen between individual countries.The survey highlights strong partisan divides in Czechia and Slovakia: voters of pro-Western parties show strongly favorable views of Taiwan, while supporters of anti-system and far-right parties are less supportive. In Hungary and Poland, perceptions of Taiwan are more homogenous across political preferences. 📘 New report: Public attitudes towards Taiwan in the V4 Read here China’s claims on Taiwan Few respondents agree with Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is part of the People’s Republic of China. Many view China’s policy toward Taiwan negatively. But widespread neutrality underscores the need for stronger public diplomacy to prevent Chinese influence campaigns from filling the gap.  Bilateral ties with TaiwanAcross the region, the public broadly supports engagement with Taiwan and opposes curbing ties to placate China, even though a higher share of respondents anticipates Chinese retaliation. This implies that the public, to some extent, tolerates the risk of Beijing’s retaliation and supports expanding mutually-beneficial ties with Taiwan.  Aiding Taiwan in case of conflict with ChinaWhen asked how their countries should respond to a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, respondents in all four states opposed NATO military involvement. Only in Czechia did more respondents favor than oppose bilateral economic assistance to Taiwan. Meanwhile, EU sanctions against China received relatively high support across the region. |