November 15, 2018
No.293
President of the Legislative Yuan Su Jia-chyuan delivered a speech on parliamentary diplomacy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) on November 14, discussing new concepts on promoting such diplomacy and leveraging national strengths to share Taiwan’s experience with other countries. Using concrete examples, he provided insight into flexible and pragmatic ways of conducting parliamentary diplomacy.
In his welcome remarks, Minister of Foreign Affairs Jaushieh Joseph Wu stated that parliamentary diplomacy is crucial to Taiwan’s diplomatic work and commended President Su for his firm commitment to such engagement, which has forged robust friendships with the parliaments of other democracies and enhanced cordial partnerships with like-minded nations. Minister Wu noted that President Su, with his extensive experience in the executive and legislative branches and at the central and local government levels, offers inspiration to MOFA staff and plays an important role in facilitating closer cooperation between the executive and legislative branches on parliamentary diplomacy, so as to jointly expand Taiwan’s international role, advance national interests, and boost people’s wellbeing.
During his speech, President Su stressed that the significance of parliamentary diplomacy lies in conducting exchanges with the highest publicly elected bodies of other nations in accordance with the government’s foreign policy, thereby overcoming the diplomatic challenges faced by Taiwan.
He said that in his two-plus years as President of the Legislative Yuan, he has received 751 delegations comprising 8,808 members from 106 countries, and led delegations on overseas trips to the United States, Japan, and Europe for parliamentary exchanges. Meanwhile, Taiwan has formed 71 parliamentary friendship groups with other countries, up from 48 in the previous session of the Legislative Yuan. While recounting how parliamentary diplomacy has bolstered Taiwan’s international role, Su emphasized that related endeavors have helped ensure that Taiwan is accorded equal treatment by other countries.
President Su also provided recommendations on how the Legislative Yuan and MOFA could work together to further promote parliamentary diplomacy, and encouraged MOFA staff to steadily advance their diplomatic work. Su added that, given Taiwan’s unique situation, he was willing to make sure the Legislative Yuan fully coordinates with MOFA and assists it with diplomatic endeavors.
MOFA invited President Su to speak as part of a series of special courses for its senior officials organized by the Institute of Diplomacy and International Affairs. Over 150 senior officials and diplomats from MOFA attended the event, which occurred in a friendly atmosphere highlighted by President Su’s insight and sense of humor when responding to questions from the audience. (E)