Taiwan is trying to deepen its relationship with Portugal beyond trade, a quiet but meaningful win for Taipei as it looks for friends in Europe.

• Taiwan's representative in Portugal, Chang Ya-kuang, wants cooperation to grow into science, research, education, and people-to-people exchanges.
• Taiwan's national labs and a Portuguese engineering institute are exploring joint work on ocean robots, AI, and underwater inspection.
• The pitch leans on what the two have in common: both are seafaring countries that value democracy, free speech, and the rule of law.
• On security, the United States remains Taiwan's key partner for defense, AI, and chips, and senior US officials have repeated that their Taiwan policy has not changed since Trump met Xi Jinping.
• China's military pressure is not just aimed at Taiwan — it stretches across the South China Sea and the waters near Japan, prompting Taiwan to raise defense spending.

Outlook: Expect small, practical science and research deals rather than any formal diplomatic breakthrough.