The Committee on International Trade (INTA) of the European Parliament hosted a public hearing on “Trade and Investment Relations with Taiwan”, chaired by the INTA Committee Chair, Bernd LANGE, on July 19 in the European Parliament. For the first time, the committee invited a legislator from Taiwan, Ms. Cynthia WU, to be a keynote speaker. In her remarks, she briefed the attendees on Taiwan’s economic growth and its crucial role in the international supply chain. She also cited the 32 Bilateral Investment Agreements and Free Trade Agreements that Taiwan has already signed with other partners and urged the EU to formalize its cooperation with Taiwan through a BIA. Joanna SZYCHOWSKA, Director in DG Trade, stressed that Taiwan is an indispensable partner of the EU, and that the EU always wants to enhance bilateral economic and trade relations by adopting creative and open-minded thinking. There are many issues that the EU and Taiwan can cooperate on and the EU expects more Taiwanese investment in Europe, she added.
For the panel discussion, Henry CHANG, Vice-Chairman of the European Chamber of Commerce Taiwan, Elena SUÁREZ, senior consultant of the European Chamber of Commerce, Kristy HSU, Director of the Taiwan ASEAN Studies Center at Chung-Hua Institution of Economic Research, and Lin GOETHALS, Director of the European Institute for Asian Studies (EIAS), all attended the meeting. They shared their positions on a Taiwan-EU BIA and discussed the benefits for both Taiwan and the EU of strengthening their bilateral trade and investment relationship. Most MEPs at the hearing reiterated the fact that maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait is in the EU’s interest. Closing remarks were delivered by MEP Iuliu WINKLER, Vice-Chair of the INTA Committee. He said that there is majority, cross-party support for Taiwan in the European Parliament, and that MEPs firmly support the EU and Taiwan signing a BIA.
In order to enhance the substantive relationship between Taiwan and the European Parliament, the INTA Committee organized an official delegation to visit Taiwan for the first time in December of last year (2022). Since returning to Europe, the members of the delegation have taken further actions to maintain the positive momentum towards a Taiwan-EU Bilateral Investment Agreement (BIA) and to strengthen cooperation between the Legislative Yuan and the European Parliament. The European Parliament is once again demonstrating its strong support for Taiwan.
