Taiwan's role and commitment from regional and global perspectives

Since President Ma took office in 2008, Taiwan has made significant progress in improving cross-Strait relations, increasing economic opportunities and cooperation with major trading partners as well as mainland China. The signing of several significant trade deals and attendance at high level conferences of the World Health Assembly and the International Civil Aviation Organisation have shown the international community that Taiwan takes its role seriously.

Following the opening remarks of EIAS Senior Associate Georges Legros, the panelists and the audience watched a video of President Ma’s opening speech at the CSIS Conference. After the screening of the video, Legros introduced the three panelists: Kuoyu Tung, Taiwan’s Representative to the EU and Belgium; Professor Lutgard Lams of the KU Leuven Campus Brussel; and Professor Paul Joseph Lim of the National Taiwan University’s European Union Centre. He subsequently invited them to share their opinions with the audience, after which a lively discussion was opened up.

According to Tung, Taiwan’s geopolitically strategic position in East Asia, its major role in the international supply chain of (among others) high tech goods and the democratic values that Taiwan shares with the EU are the main reasons why Taiwan is actually of paramount importance to Europe. Tung stated that Taiwan and the EU should strengthen economic ties, which he believes to be already very sound. He called Taiwan the “missing link” in the EU’s free/bilateral trade negotiations in Asia. Calling for further progress in EU-Taiwan relations, Tung concluded with a simple question: “Is Europe still waiting for a perfect or better time to strengthen ties with Taiwan?”

Professor Lams noted the credit given to president Ma for the improvement of cross-Strait relations, which serves the national interest. Taiwan’s responsibility in regional prosperity and peace-keeping together with good cross-Strait relations have enhanced Taiwan’s position in the world, according to Lams.

Professor Lim stressed that Taiwan’s political parties should try harder to find common ground on some issues. “Taiwan is still in a process of democratization, which is not in its peak yet. This process should be present in every aspect of life, not only politics.” Regarding Taiwan’s bid to join regional trade blocs, Lim said Taiwan should have tried to join much earlier, considering that Taiwan depends primarily on trade with its neighbouring countries.