President Ma Ying-jeou met on the morning of October 6 with Speaker of the British House of Lords Baroness Frances D'Souza. In addition to welcoming Baroness D'Souza to Taiwan, the president also expressed hope that the two countries can further enhance their friendship and engage in a greater range of cooperation.
In remarks, President Ma stated that over the past six years 22 members of 15delegations from the House of Lords have visited Taiwan, and that he has met with 18 of them to exchange opinions on a broad range of issues. He remarked that Baroness D'Souza is the first Speaker of the House of Lords to visit Taiwan. She has long championed gender equality and women's participation in politics, said the president, noting that during this visit she will deliver a speech on "Women's Leadership and Political Participation" and interact with students here.
President Ma explained that since losing its representation in the United Nations in 1971 the ROC has been unable to take part in UN activities, but that important international covenants such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) have been incorporated into domestic law through the enactment of enforcement legislation. Our active promotion of gender equality, he said, shows that Taiwan is still striving to realize the spirit of the CEDAW convention even though it is not a signatory.
As for the participation of women in the political process, President Ma stated, the Constitution of the ROC as well as domestic laws clearly require that a minimum quota of seats be held for women in elections, which shows that the ROC is a nation that protects the rights of women. The president commented that when the Constitution was passed in 1946, the minimum quotas for women put the ROC in the forefront of the international community and was an innovative way to promote women's rights. In addition, he said, Article 4 of the Additional Articles to the Constitution provides that, of the members elected from the nationwide constituency, the number of elected female members on each party's list shall not be less than one-half of the total number. President Ma noted that the 38 women now serving in the ROC's Legislative Yuan hold 33.63% of all seats, which exceeds the 30% minimum mentioned in the conference report issued following the 1995 United Nations World Conference on Women. Furthermore, the president said, the ROC has a political system that features a "division of five powers," and within this system, the ratios of women members in the Examination Yuan and the Control Yuan are even higher. President Ma stated that this year, of the 19 members of the 12th Examination Yuan, eight, or 42%, are women. Meanwhile, of the 18 members of the 5th Control Yuan, the ratio of female members is 55.6%, he said. The president noted that the new President of the Control Yuan Chang Po-ya (張博雅) is the first female president of that government branch, which highlights the high level of importance that the government places on participation in politics by women.
President Ma mentioned that according to a ranking by the Inter-Parliamentary Union released on September 1 of this year regarding participation among women in politics, the ROC ranked behind only East Timor and New Zealand in the Asia-Pacific region, but ahead of Japan, Korea, and Australia. In addition, he said, a United Nations Development Programme formula was used in 2012 by the government here to tabulate Taiwan's Gender Inequality Index (GII), and our country scored especially well in two areas, namely, the number of female legislators, and the labor force participation rate among females aged 15-54, he noted, adding that Taiwan's GII value of 0.053 is the second best among 149 countries, behind only the Netherlands.
President Ma mentioned that relations between the ROC and the United Kingdom have been extremely close in recent years. He noted that his wife, Chow Mei-ching (周美青) has visited the UK three times over the past several years to attend various cultural activities. In addition, Lord Mayor of London Fiona Woolf and UK Special Representative for Climate Change Sir David King have both visited Taiwan this year, he said. The president stated that last year Taiwan and the UK signed a memorandum of understanding on extradition of British national Zain Taj Dean, which marked an important development in judicial cooperation between the two countries.
The president also mentioned that the UK was the first country in Europe or North America to grant visa-free courtesies to visitors from Taiwan, after which other nations from the European Union followed suit. This has been instrumental in increasing the number of jurisdictions that now offer visa-free courtesies or landing visas to 140, he said. The move by the UK not only marked a new era in Taiwan-UK relations, but also greatly increased the willingness of ROC nationals to go to the UK for tourism and study, he stated. President Ma also noted that the number of students from Taiwan currently studying in the UK stands at around 16,000, behind only the United States, making the UK Taiwan's second largest destination for students studying overseas.
As for economic and trade relations, President Ma said, the UK is Taiwan's third largest trading partner in Europe, with bilateral trade last year amounting to about £3.6 billion. As of the end of last year, Taiwan had a total of £715 million of investments in the UK, which amounted to nearly one-fifth of Taiwan's total investments in Europe, he remarked. Meanwhile, in the first quarter of this year, over half of all external investment from Taiwan was in the UK, which demonstrates the benefits of close cooperation between the two sides.
President Ma also stated that in the six years that he has been in office, his administration has actively promoted economic and trade relationships with Taiwan's major trading partners. Since 2010, he said, Taiwan has signed bilateral economic cooperation or investment agreements with mainland China, Japan, New Zealand, and Singapore. In the future, Taiwan will vigorously seek admission to the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, he remarked.
The president told the visitors that Taiwan also hopes to develop a similar economic and trade relationship with Europe as soon as possible. In fact, he said, the European Parliament in recent years has passed over 10 resolutions urging the European Union to negotiate an economic cooperation agreement with Taiwan. President Ma stated that former British Minister of State for Trade and Investment Lord Green during a visit to Taiwan in 2012 publicly stated that the British government supports persuading the European Commission to seek the authority to commence economic cooperation agreement negotiations between Taiwan and the European Union. In addition, UK Trade & Investment Policy and Network Development Managing Director Nick Archer reiterated this stance while attending the 16th Joint Meeting of Taiwan-Britain Business Council in May of this year, so the government here is waiting for an appropriate opportunity, hoping to see a breakthrough as soon as possible.
Baroness D'Souza was accompanied to the Presidential Office by Director Chris Wood of the British Trade & Cultural Office in Taiwan, and ROC Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Vanessa Yea-Ping Shih (史亞平).