President Tsai meets delegation from the European Parliament and the European Green Party
On the morning of March 25, President Tsai Ing-wen met with a delegation from the European Parliament and the European Green Party. In remarks, President Tsai pointed out that last month, the European Parliament adopted resolutions on EU foreign policy and security reports that supported the deepening of a comprehensive partnership with Taiwan. The president thanked the European Parliament and the delegation members for their concrete actions affirming Taiwan's democracy and freedom and for continuing to strengthen support for Taiwan, and also thanked the European Green Party for backing Taiwan's international participation. President Tsai stated that she looks forward to even closer bilateral cooperation on counter-disinformation, supply chain security, and economic and trade exchanges.
A translation of President Tsai's remarks follows:
I am delighted to meet again with Chair of the European Parliament's Delegation for Relations with the People's Republic of China Reinhard Bütikofer and members of the German Bundestag Till Steffen and Boris Mijatović. I also extend a very warm welcome to Vice President of the European Parliament Heidi Hautala and Bundestag member Agnieszka Brugger on their first trip to Taiwan. I look forward to all of our guests gaining an even deeper understanding of Taiwan through this visit.
In recent years, cooperation and exchanges between Taiwan and Europe have become increasingly close. Just last month, the European Parliament adopted resolutions on EU foreign policy and security reports that supported the deepening of a comprehensive partnership with Taiwan. I want to express my gratitude to the European Parliament and to each one of you for your concrete actions affirming Taiwan's democracy and freedom and for continuing to strengthen support for Taiwan. I also want to take this opportunity to thank the European Green Party for backing Taiwan's international participation.
Over the past few years, Taiwan has maintained a pragmatic and steady stance in actively engaging with the world. Faced with the expansion of authoritarianism and the threat of disinformation, Taiwan has also bolstered cooperation with other democracies to jointly safeguard democracy, freedom, and stable development throughout the region.
The European Green Party's longstanding focus on the environment, human rights, and social welfare aligns closely with Taiwan's efforts toward net-zero transition and gender equality. I believe that your visit will facilitate deeper exchanges between Taiwan and Germany as well as other EU countries on issues of mutual concern. I also anticipate even closer bilateral cooperation on counter-disinformation, supply chain security, and economic and trade exchanges.
In closing, I thank you all for your support of Taiwan once again. I would ask that you continue making the case to expand the partnerships between Taiwan and the EU, as well as between Taiwan and Germany. I wish you all a fruitful visit.
Chair Bütikofer then delivered remarks, stating that this is the first European Green Party delegation that has come to Taiwan, and that their visit has three purposes. First, he said, they want to express their strong conviction that there has to be a high level of solidarity between democracies in the face of a growing wave of authoritarianism. The chair said that with Taiwan, they share democratic values, human rights values, and the value of rule of law, and on that basis, we build our solidarity.
Chair Bütikofer said that the second purpose of their visit is to learn about the multifaceted reality of Taiwan's society, its thriving democracy, and its vibrant civil society. The chair said they believe that they can learn, for instance, from how people in Taiwan have been successful in pushing back against information manipulation. The third purpose, he said, is to look for practical opportunities for enhancing the Taiwan-EU partnership and relationship.
Chair Bütikofer went on to say that this relationship is not just about symbolic action, but also about practical action which pertains to different dimensions, including the economic dimension. The chair said he fully agrees with President Tsai in that cooperation on resilient supply chains would be a very important topic for our two sides to share efforts on. But certainly, he said, there are many other dimensions, pointing out that it is interesting to compare Taiwan's experience in dealing with a dictatorship that has been overcome with their experience in dealing with the remnants of their own history.
The chair stated that it is also important to see how societal concerns are coming to the fore. Taiwan, he pointed out, was the first country in this region of the world that allowed LGBTIQ rights to all its citizens, which makes it very dear to them. Chair Bütikofer expressed hope to look into practical opportunities for enhancing their collaboration, indicating that Taiwanese investment in eastern Germany is very welcome, as is Europeans' investment in Taiwan. But by no means, he said, should we restrict our relationship just to the economic dimension — it should be broadly based.
Chair Bütikofer said he believes that under President Tsai's wise leadership over the years, Taiwan has won many additional friends around Europe. He emphasized that the European Parliament has charted a course of strong, cohesive solidarity, as all five major political groups that often disagree on almost everything do agree on their support for Taiwan.
The chair said that steps have been made not just in the European Parliament. In the case of Germany, he said, an agreement has been made between Taiwan's representative office in Berlin and the German Institute in Taiwan to create civil society dialogue through a Germany-Taiwan dialogue platform. All these steps, he said, are increasingly in the public eye, noting that three or five years ago, the awareness of the very important role that Taiwan is playing in our public was not what it is today.
Chair Bütikofer stated that the delegation is grateful to President Tsai for all her work. He pointed out that both his party and the president's party are represented by the color green, and in German, there is a saying, which is “green is the color of hope.” In that sense, the chair said, let's work together.