EDF's curious departure from Taiwan

By Alice Hérait and Adrien Simorre

French utilities giant EDF this year decided to close its offices in Taiwan, a democratically self-governed archipelago which China vigorously lays claim to as a province of its own. Curiously, the move comes just as Taiwan launches an ambitious programme to develop renewable energies, an important sector for EDF. It also follows a lucrative deal EDF has signed with China for the construction of offshore wind parks. The French group, meanwhile, denies any link between the two events. Alice Hérait and Adrien Simorre report from Taiwan.

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During his three-day state visit to France last year, Chinese President Xi Jinping and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron signed a raft of lucrative trade deals, and among them was a contract worth 1 billion euros for French utilities giant EDF, in which the French state has an 83.68% stake.

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