President Ma Ying-jeou met on the morning of June 26 with a delegation led by Vice-Chair Ryszard Antoni Legutko of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group of the European Parliament. In addition to welcoming the group to Taiwan, the president also called for further strengthening of economic ties and the signing of an economic cooperation agreement as soon as possible.
Prior to the start of the meeting, Vice-Chair Legutko first delivered a letter to President Ma, signed by all the members of the delegation, expressing condolences for the Guang Da Xing No. 28 fishing boat incident of May 9, in which a Philippine government vessel sprayed the Taiwanese fishing boat with automatic fire in economic waters south of Taiwan, resulting in the unfortunate death of a Taiwanese fisherman. The members of the delegation in the letter expressed hope that the incident can be resolved to the satisfaction of all parties and that a similar situation will not recur. The president thanked them for the letter, and stated that the government of the ROC made four demands of the Philippines, namely: to offer a formal apology; to provide compensation for the losses; to promptly and thoroughly investigate the incident and severely punish those responsible for the killing; and to initiate fishery negotiations between the two countries as soon as possible. President Ma said that the ROC is waiting for the Philippines to respond positively to the demands, after which, he said, Taiwan will resume normal relations with the Philippines. The president noted that the international media has featured over 900 reports or editorial pieces on the incident. Among those which took an editorial stance on the matter, the vast majority agreed with the ROC's reasonable and resolute demands, and called for a quick resolution of the incident, he remarked.
President Ma emphasized that the ROC is a peace-loving nation. He pointed out that in last August he unveiled his East China Sea Peace Initiative, hoping that all parties involved in the Diaoyutai Islets sovereignty dispute in the East China Sea could resolve the controversy via peaceful means. The president stated that the initiative is not an empty set of ideas, specifically noting that after announcing the initiative, Taiwan and Japan held fishing negotiations that resulted in the signing of a fisheries agreement between the two sides on April 10 of this year. The agreement guarantees the rights of fishermen from both countries, and increases (by roughly twice the area of Taiwan) the size of the territory around the Diaoyutais in which fishermen from Taiwan can now operate. In addition, Taiwan and Japan have established a standing committee that will continue to discuss seas not covered by the agreement, he stated. The president said that this practice highlights Taiwan's sincerity and determination to resolve international disputes in a peaceful manner.
President Ma also said that he welcomes and deeply appreciates the statements issued by Catherine Ashton (High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy), and Herman Van Rompuy (President of the European Council) on the East China Sea and expressing hope that all countries will work to resolve the dispute peacefully. In addition, Chair Elmer Brok of the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs, and other parliament members have issued press releases or statements supporting the East China Sea Peace Initiative, the president said.
President Ma stated that the EU is Taiwan's fourth largest trading partner, while Taiwan is the EU's seventh largest in Asia and 23rd largest in the world. European firms are Taiwan's largest source of foreign investment, he said, so Taiwan's government deeply hopes to further develop economic and trade ties with the EU, including signing an economic cooperation agreement. At present, both sides are studying the economic impact and feasibility of such an agreement. President Ma expressed hope that this preliminary work can be completed as soon as possible so that the groundwork will be in place for an eventual signing of a pact.
The president mentioned that this delegation is the 11th group from the European Parliament that he has met since the beginning of his second term of office in May 2012, which shows that relations between Taiwan and the EU have developed to an unprecedented level. President Ma also thanked the EU for acting two years ago to grant ROC nationals visa-free admission to Schengen member states. The president furthermore thanked the European Parliament for passing a number of resolutions friendly to Taiwan in recent years, and expressed support for an economic cooperation agreement between Taiwan and the EU.
President Ma also mentioned that three years ago Taiwan and mainland China signed the Cross-Straits Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement. In addition, the Cross-Strait Trade in Services Agreement was signed several days ago. In the future, each side will notify the World Trade Organization (WTO) of the signing of this agreement in accordance with WTO rules. Furthermore, he said, Taiwan is in negotiations with Singapore and New Zealand on economic cooperation agreements that it hopes to conclude in the near future. At the same time, the president noted, Taiwan and the United States have resumed economic and trade negotiations, and that Taiwan hopes to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership as well as the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, which would enable Taiwan to effectively participate in regional economic integration.
The delegation also included European Parliament members from Poland Tomasz Piotr Poreba, Ryszard Czarnecki, and Marek Jozef Grobarczyk. The group was accompanied to the Presidential Office by European Economic and Trade Office Head Frederic Laplanche and Chief Representative Marek Wejtko of Warsaw Trade Office in Taipei to meet President Ma. Also attending the meeting were National Security Council Advisor Francis Yi-Hua Kan (甘逸驊) and Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Vanessa Yea-Ping Shih (史亞平).