President Ma Ying-jeou met on the morning of May 2 with European Parliament member Werner Langen, chair of the parliamentary body's Delegation for Relations with Southeast Asia and ASEAN. In addition to welcoming Mr. Langen and his delegation to Taiwan, the president also called for quick action to sign an economic cooperation agreement between Taiwan and the European Union (EU) to enhance their economic relationship.
In remarks, the president stated that the European Parliament has long been very supportive of Taiwan. For instance, the European Parliament supported granting visa-free courtesies to ROC nationals traveling to Schengen member states, he said. In addition, the body supported participation for Taiwan in the World Health Assembly and has included language friendly to Taiwan in the Annual Report from the Council to the European Parliament on the Common Foreign and Security Policy, the president noted, adding that these gestures have created an important basis to promote bilateral relations.
President Ma stated that Taiwan is the EU's seventh largest trading partner in Asia and its 19th largest in the world, and Europe has for many years been the largest source of foreign investment in Taiwan. Consequently, the government here strongly supports the call by the European Parliament for the EU to sign an economic cooperation agreement with Taiwan, he stated, expressing confidence that a pact of this sort would promote trade and make bilateral ties even closer.
President Ma mentioned that Taiwan and mainland China three years ago signed the Cross-Straits Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, and follow-up negotiations on an agreement governing trade in services are nearing completion, while conclusion of an agreement on trade in goods is also expected by the end of this year. This shows that the two sides are nearing their goal of full trade liberalization, he commented. At the same time, the president noted, Taiwan is now in talks with New Zealand and Singapore on economic cooperation agreements, while similar negotiations are underway with Japan and ASEAN countries. President Ma said it is clear that once Taiwan becomes more involved in regional economic integration, it will enjoy an entirely different status in the region, and new possibilities will emerge.
The president mentioned that Taiwan and the United States have already resumed talks on trade and economic issues, and it hopes to achieve the conditions necessary to join the US-led Trans-Pacific Partnership. At the same time, Taiwan also hopes to join the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, which includes Japan, mainland China, Korea, and ASEAN.
The president expressed appreciation for the support expressed by various European officials, in the form of press releases or public statements, of his East China Sea Peace Initiative. He noted that Catherine Ashton (High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy), and Herman Van Rompuy (President of the European Council) both issued statements with respect to the situation in the East China Sea, calling on the nations involved to resolve the dispute in a peaceful manner. Meanwhile, Chair Elmar Brok of the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs, and other parliament members, have also expressed similar support, he said.
President Ma remarked that in March of this year, the European Parliament approved a report on EU-China relations urging that issues in the East China Sea be resolved in accordance with international law, calling particularly for compliance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). The president stated that this accords with his viewpoint expressed in the East China Sea Peace Initiative, which is inspired by the provisions of UNCLOS Article 74 governing the handling of overlapping claims. In the 1960s, said the president, European nations were able to settle their dispute over oil fields in the North Sea through peaceful means, and this was also an inspiration for his stance that "although national sovereignty cannot be divided, natural resources can be shared."
President Ma also mentioned that subsequent to the launch of the East China Sea Peace Initiative, Taiwan and Japan on April 10 signed a fisheries agreement that provides for joint management of certain seas in that area and enables fishermen from both countries to operate in designated seas without interference. This agreement, he said, does not prejudice either side's claim to sovereignty over the Diaoyutai Islets, but it does enable them to address the issue through peaceful and rational means in a spirit of equality and reciprocity as they jointly develop and share resources in the area. This corresponds to the expectations of the international community, he added.
The president stressed that democracy, freedom, human rights, and peace are core values that the ROC embraces, and they are universal values shared by Taiwan and European nations. Taiwan, he emphasized, has successfully established itself as a "peacemaker" in the region, and is effectively promoting peace in the Taiwan Strait and the East China Sea. In the future, Taiwan will continue to adopt this principle in working for world peace, the president said in concluding his remarks.
Others in the delegation included former Chairman Georg Jarzembowski of the European Parliament's Taiwan Friendship Group, European Parliament members Herbert Dorfmann from Italy, Ingeborg Grassle from Germany, Elisabeth Jeggle from Germany, and Hubert Pirker from Austria, as well as Michael Hahn, Parliamentary Advisor on China Affairs to the European People's Party. The group visited the Presidential Office in the morning to meet President Ma. Also attending the meeting were Secretary-General to the President Timothy Chin-Tien Yang (楊進添), National Security Council Advisor Francis Yi-Hua Kan (甘逸驊), and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Ting Joseph Shih (石定).