Taiwan's vice president has now made two trips to Europe in under a year, a sign Taipei is slowly turning rare, risky visits into a routine channel with European partners — good news for Taiwan's push for international space, and an irritant for Beijing.

• Hsiao Bi-khim was the guest of honour at a freedom and democracy forum on the Italian island of Ventotene, after attending an inter-parliamentary China-policy summit in Brussels last year.
• Officials describe the shift as moving from a highly sensitive one-off to a repeatable model for high-level contact with countries that have no formal ties with Taiwan.
• Planning was unusually cautious after China disrupted President Lai Ching-te's trip to Eswatini in April by weaponising flight information region rules.
• Lai personally chaired pre-trip planning and contingency meetings, with Taiwan's missions in Brussels and Rome running a joint task force on logistics and security.
• The approach was to let the European hosts set the arrangements, giving them more room and confidence to issue the invitation.

Outlook: Expect Taipei to keep testing this template with more senior visits to Europe, and expect Beijing to keep pushing back on each one.