ROC President Ma Ying-jeou praised robust Taiwan-EU relations across a spectrum of areas, expressing hope of taking economic exchanges to a new level.
“The European Parliament has played a key role in promoting Taiwan-EU relations by pushing for Schengen visa waiver treatment, supporting our participation at the World Health Organization and passing friendly resolutions under the EU Common Foreign and Security Policy,” Ma said.
The president made the remarks while receiving an EP delegation for relations with countries of Southeast Asia and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations at the Presidential Office in Taipei City. Headed by Werner Langen, the group comprised EP lawmakers Herbert Dorfmann, Ingeborg Grassle, Michael Hahn, Georg Jarzembowski, Elisabeth Jeggle and Hubert Pirker.
Ma said the healthy state of Taipei-Brussels ties is illustrated by vibrant economic relations. Taiwan is the EU’s seventh largest trading partner in Asia and 19th-largest in the world, with European firms the biggest foreign investors in Taiwan.
The government fully supports the EP push for signing a Taiwan-EU economic cooperation agreement, which Ma said will boost two-way trade and bring the two sides closer.
This undertaking is also in line with his administration’s commitment to further liberalizing Taiwan trade. These efforts include signing the Cross-Straits Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) in 2010, and entering into similar trade negotiations with Japan, Singapore, New Zealand and ASEAN members.
Taiwan also just concluded talks with the U.S. under the bilateral Trade and Investment Framework Agreement in March in Taipei, Ma said, adding that this development is part of his building blocks approach for the island to join trade pacts such as the Trans-Pacific Partnership and Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership.
The TPP is a proposed trade agreement comprising negotiating partners Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam and the U.S. Other nations such as Japan and South Korea are also looking to join discussions on the nascent pact.
Driven by ASEAN, the RCEP comprises 16 economies including Australia, India, Japan and mainland China. If realized, the trading bloc will permit a greater flow of goods and services and encompass a combined economic output of US$20 trillion, or almost one-third of the global economy.
On issues of regional security, Ma said recent headway made between Taiwan and Japan over the Diaoyutai Islets is in line with the EU’s call for the peaceful resolution of disputes in the East and South China seas.
Ma added that the Taiwan-Japan fishery agreement illustrates the viability of the government’s East China Sea peace initiative and the willingness of both sides to set aside differences without undermining maritime and sovereignty claims.
Proposed by the president Aug. 5, 2012, the five-point initiative urges all parties to refrain from antagonistic actions; not abandon dialogue; observe international law; resolve disputes through peaceful means; and form a mechanism for exploring and developing resources on a cooperative basis.
The Diaoyutais are an uninhabited archipelago located roughly 102 nautical miles northeast of Taiwan proper. They are historically attached to the ROC and include Diaoyutai Island and four other islets. (RC-JSM)
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