Taipei, Aug. 30 (CNA) Vice President Annette Lu called for closer ties between Taiwan and Austria Friday, saying that there is still ample room for the two countries to improve their bilateral relations.
Lu noted during a meeting with a group of Austrian parliamentarians at the Presidential Office that she has visited Austria many times and was highly impressed with various aspects of the European state.
Nevertheless, she went on, she has been barred "for no reason" from entering Austria since she became vice president.
The Austrian parliamentarian delegation was headed by Third Parliament Speaker Werner Fasslabend.
In response to the Austrians' concerns about the development of cross-Taiwan Strait relations, Lu said that the ROC is a sovereign state and that President Chen Shui-bian's recent statement that Taiwan and mainland China are "countries on each side of the Taiwan Strait" is simply a reiteration of reality.
Lu said Taiwan and mainland China are two starkly different countries and the idea that Taiwan is part of the People's Republic of China is "a bare-faced lie."
She noted that the PRC has never governed Taiwan since the communist country was established Oct. 1, 1949, adding that Beijing's standpoint that Taiwan is part of the PRC is lying to the entire world.
She continued that United Nations Resolution 2758 solved only the issue of the Chinese representation at the U.N., pointing out that it did not decide which side of the Taiwan Strait represent Taiwan.
According to Lu, that resolution therefore had nothing to do with Taiwan, and she added that mainland China has misled the whole world for decades about Taiwan's status. It is now the right time for countries around the world to know the truth and the facts, she said.
In addition, Lu also rejected Beijing's saying to the world that it has taken account of the voice of the 23 million people of Taiwan.
Lu told her Austrian guests that Taiwan, with its rich development experience accumulated over the past several decades, is willing to give back to the international community and would like to make concerted efforts with the world for the entire global population's health and well-being.
She asked the parliamentarians to exert their personal influence to their government to obtain Austria's support for Taiwan's bid to become a member of the World Health Organization and other international organizations.
Other members of Fasslabend's delegation included Walter Tancsits, a convener of the Austrian Parliamentarian Construction Committee, and Sylvia Paphazy, deputy convener of the Cultural Affairs Committee.