President Ma Ying-jeou met on the morning of October 7 with the new Head of the European Economic and Trade Office (EETO) Frederic Laplanche. The president, on behalf of the government and people of the ROC, welcomed Mr. Laplanche to the ROC to take up his new post, and expressed his desire to see continued growth in relations between the European Union (EU) and Taiwan.
In remarks at the meeting, the president noted that Mr. Laplanche previously served as the deputy head of the EETO. He has also worked in the French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs in the office handling Far East and Southeast Asian affairs. Mr. Laplanche has a strong command of Chinese and his wife is from Taiwan, the president stated, adding that he has a deep understanding of Taiwan.
President Ma remarked that the EU and the ROC share the common core values of democracy, freedom, and human rights. In 2005, the ROC established in Brussels the Taipei Representative Office in the EU and Belgium, the president pointed out, which he said has helped bilateral relations to gradually expand over the years. The president said that in the more than three years that he has been in office since May 2008, the EU and the European Parliament have in total issued or passed 15 statements or resolutions friendly to the ROC. Relations between the two sides are developing rapidly, he stated. Catherine Ashton, Vice President of the European Commission, on June 30 of last year issued a statement welcoming the cross-strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) signed between Taiwan and mainland China, saying that the pact is conducive to peace and stability in East Asia. President Ma said the people of Taiwan were particularly encouraged by those remarks.
The president noted that the EU this year granted Taiwan entry into its visa waiver program under which Taiwanese can enter Schengen Agreement member states visa-free. In addition, recently six of the Netherlands' overseas territories announced they were granting visa-free courtesies to Taiwanese visitors. This brings the number of jurisdictions that provides visa-free courtesies or landing visas to Taiwanese to 123, the president noted. He added that this demonstrates a recognition among the international community of the quality of the ROC's citizenry.
The president remarked that statistics show that providing visa-free treatment brings positive effects. For instance, the UK in 2009 granted Taiwanese visa-free courtesies, and last year the number of Taiwanese visiting the UK grew 150%. In addition, the number of Taiwanese visiting EU nations from March to August grew nearly 40% year-on-year, with annualized growth in August reaching 47.78%. At the same time, trade between Taiwan and the EU in the first eight months of this year hit €35.8 billion, which was an increase of 16.4% from the corresponding period last year. This shows that bilateral trade is growing steadily, he said.
President Ma stated that Taiwan can serve as a gateway to mainland China, and this advantage has become even more pronounced in the wake of the signing of the ECFA. The president said that over a decade ago he advocated the viewpoint that European and Taiwanese companies could become strategic allies and together develop the mainland Chinese market. The situation is even more conducive now with the ECFA between Taiwan and mainland China, he noted. He expressed his hope that both sides will have greater opportunities for cooperation to generate mutual benefit and prosperity.
Mr. Laplanche was accompanied to the Presidential Office in the morning by Deputy Foreign Minister Lyushun Shen (沈呂巡) to meet President Ma. Also attending the meeting was National Security Council Deputy Secretary-General Chih-kung Liu (劉志攻).