President Tsai Ing-wen said Feb. 3 that Taiwan is committed to forging a closer relationship with the EU and creating better opportunities for citizens on both sides by furthering exchanges in areas such as health care and trade.
Taiwan-EU ties have gone from strength to strength recently, as illustrated by record two-way trade and investment numbers over the past three years, Tsai said. This healthy state of affairs is further reflected by rising EU support for the country’s renewable energy industry, including offshore wind power development, she added.
Tsai made the remarks while receiving Giuseppe Izzo, chairman of the European Chamber of Commerce Taiwan, at the Presidential Office in Taipei City.
According to Tsai, the government is looking to raise Taiwan-EU relations to new heights through a bilateral investment agreement. She also took the time to thank Izzo for leading a delegation to Brussels arguing in favor of such an arrangement last December.
Tsai further expressed appreciation to the EU for its staunch support of Taiwan’s participation in the activities, mechanisms and meetings of the World Health Organization, citing the importance of the country’s contributions to global health and disease combating networks.
As a front-line state facing the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak, Tsai said, Taiwan should not become a missing link in the global disease prevention and control system. The country’s exclusion from U.N. specialized agencies due to political factors is unjustified, and the rights of Taiwan’s 23 million people should not be ignored, she added. (YCH-E)
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