May 18, 2016
No. 122
A special envoy from the Holy See and 17 other European delegations will visit Taiwan from May 18 to 23 for the inauguration of the 14th-term president and vice president of the Republic of China. The delegations comprise a total of 48 dignitaries from the European Parliament, the Netherlands, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, the United Kingdom, Hungary, Estonia, Austria, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, and Portugal.
In addition to attending the swearing-in ceremony and inaugural celebrations, the delegations will visit such iconic economic and cultural locations as the National Palace Museum and Taipei 101, giving them a better understanding of Taiwan and kindling ideas for boosting substantive cooperation and exchange.
In recent years, Taiwan has enjoyed steady growth in exchanges and cooperation with the EU and individual European nations. It shares a longstanding friendship with each of the distinguished guests, who have helped advance relations between Taiwan and their respective countries, as well as the EU. The presence of these delegations at the ROC presidential inauguration highlights Europe’s strong friendship with and staunch support for Taiwan.
The dignitaries include a five-member delegation from the European Parliament led by MEP Dominique Riquet, Vice President of the EP-Taiwan Friendship Group; former Prime Minister Dr. Andreas van Agt, former Minister of Defense Dr. Willem van Eekelen, and his wife from the Netherlands; former Prime Minister Iveta Radicova from Slovakia; former Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs Alexandr Vondra from the Czech Republic; MEP Hans van Baalen, president of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe and president of honour of Liberal International; a seven-member delegation from the UK led by Lord Faulkner, trade envoy to Taiwan and co-chair of the British-Taiwanese All-Party Parliamentary Group, and the two co-chairs, MP Nigel Evans and Lord Steel; a two-member delegation from Hungary led by MP Gábor Fodor, former Minister of Education and former Minister of Environment and Water; a two-member delegation from Estonia led by Kalle Laanet, chairman of the Estonia-Taiwan Friendship Group and former Minister of the Interior; a three-member delegation from Austria led by MP Werner Amon, chairman of the Austria-Taiwan Friendship Group; MP Brian Mikkelsen, chairman of the Denmark-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Association, and his wife; a three-member delegation from France led by MP François Loncle, vice chairman of the France-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group; a four-member delegation from Germany led by MP Axel Fischer, president of the World League for Freedom and Democracy German Chapter; a five-member delegation from Ireland led by MP John McGuinness, chairman of the Ireland-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Society; a three-member delegation from Italy led by MP Guido Galperti, vice president of the Italy-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group; MP Jānis Vucans, vice president of the Baltic Assembly, from Latvia; MP Emanuelis Zingeris of Lithuania; and a two-member delegation from Portugal led by MP Paulo Rios de Oliveira, chairman of the Taiwan-Portugal Parliamentary Friendship Association. (E)