President Tsai meets delegation from the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs
On the afternoon of July 26, President Tsai Ing-wen met with a delegation from the European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs. In remarks, President Tsai thanked the European Parliament for taking a range of actions over the past few years to demonstrate its attention to peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, deepen cooperation between Taiwan and Europe, and support Taiwan's international participation. The president expressed hope that Taiwan and the European Union can continue to deepen cooperation in areas including supply chain resiliency, investment, cybersecurity, and technological innovation, and that Taiwan and the EU can sign a bilateral investment agreement, which would strengthen our partnership as well as unity between democracies.
A translation of President Tsai's remarks follows:
I extend a very warm welcome to you, Vice-Chair of the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs Urmas Paet, and to your delegation. I would like to take this opportunity to thank the European Parliament for taking a range of actions over the past few years to demonstrate its attention to peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, deepen cooperation between Taiwan and Europe, and support Taiwan's international participation.
Official delegations visited Taiwan from the European Parliament's Special Committee on Foreign Interference in all Democratic Processes in the European Union, including Disinformation in 2021 and the Committee on International Trade in 2022. During these visits, we had many important discussions on joint efforts to combat disinformation and strengthen economic ties. Vice-President of the European Parliament Nicola Beer also visited Taiwan in July 2022. This marked the first official visit by a European Parliament official at the level of vice-president and demonstrated staunch support for Taiwan.
Just last month, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) led a delegation to the European Parliament and met with Vice-President Beer as well as many members of parliament. I am sure that your visit will further strengthen the connection between Taiwan and the EU and allow us to explore more opportunities for collaboration.
Taiwan and the EU are important partners that share the values of freedom and democracy. In recent years, we have cooperated productively in many areas. Now, we face the expansion of authoritarianism, major shifts in the world economy, and an accelerated restructuring of global supply chains. Looking ahead, we hope that Taiwan and the EU can continue to deepen cooperation in areas including supply chain resiliency, investment, cybersecurity, and technological innovation.
We also hope that, with the support of our guests here today, Taiwan and the EU can sign a bilateral investment agreement, which would strengthen our partnership as well as unity between democracies. Thank you once again for supporting Taiwan. We hope to see you here again soon. Let us continue working to deepen the friendship between Taiwan and the EU.
Vice-Chair Paet then delivered remarks, saying he was very happy to lead a delegation from the European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs to Taiwan and meet with President Tsai. Taiwan is one of the EU's closest partners in Asia, he said, because we are like-minded and share a respect for human rights, international law, and human dignity.
Vice-Chair Paet said that, taking into account today's turbulent international situation, it is absolutely necessary that democracies stick together and deepen their cooperation. When Russia invaded Ukraine, the EU very much appreciated that Taiwan promptly expressed a clear and principled position and that it provided assistance to Ukraine. He expressed his belief that for the future global security environment, and in consideration of the rule of law and international law, it is absolutely important that Ukraine regain control of all its territory as soon as possible. And here, he added, all the international support that Ukraine receives is very valuable.
Vice-Chair Paet mentioned that Taiwan is a very valuable trade and business partner for the EU, noting that the statistics place Taiwan very high in trade and investment. And similarly for Taiwan, he said, investment and trade ties with the EU are also very important, adding that they would like to deepen those ties even further. He stated that Taiwan possesses unique expertise in the high-tech and digital sectors, which he pointed to as a good foundation on which we can build broader and deeper cooperation between the EU and Taiwan.
Vice-Chair Paet expressed his belief that the international community needs to make more use of Taiwanese expertise in various fields, and that Taiwan's international participation is in the interests of the international community. He pointed to the World Health Organization (WHO) as an example, emphasizing the expertise Taiwan could provide for the organization, and said that it is a pity that the WHO has so far not accepted Taiwan's expertise and interest to contribute.
Vice-Chair Paet said that the EU attaches much importance to developments in the Asia-Pacific region, and that its leaders have recently decided on a new strategy that clearly expresses EU interests in the region. One of the most important principles of which, he said, is that developments in the region should be fully peaceful. These are not empty words, he added, because Europe saw very clearly from Russian aggression against Ukraine how one war can have very serious global impact, which is why security is indivisible.
Vice-Chair Paet expressed his thanks for the hospitality his delegation has received, and said he was very pleased to see such good cooperation between the EU and Taiwan. He closed by saying that in business, culture, and people-to-people exchanges, the EU looks forward to further developing its ties with Taiwan.
The delegation also included Chair of the European Parliament Delegation for Relations with the People's Republic of China Reinhard Bütikofer, Chair of the European Parliament-Taiwan Friendship Group Michael Gahler, Chair of the Subcommittee on Security and Defence Nathalie Loiseau, and Members of the European Parliament Tonino Picula, Dominik Tarczyński, Jakop G. Dalunde, and Susanna Ceccardi, as well as Head of the European Economic and Trade Office Filip Grzegorzewski.