June 5, 2019
The Honorable Catherine Nettleton, Representative of the British Office Taipei;
Excellencies Ambassadors and Honorable Representatives;
Minister Tsai of Ministry of Justice;
Chairman Wellington Koo of Financial Supervisory Commission;
Distinguished Legislators of Legislative Yuan;
Distinguished guests;
Ladies and gentlemen:
Good evening!
It’s a great pleasure to join you all as we celebrate the official birthday of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. On behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the R.O.C.(Taiwan), I would like to congratulate Her Majesty, the British Office Taipei, and the British people on this special occasion.
I want also to thank the Hon. Catherine Nettleton of the British Office Taipei for providing an opportunity like this to allow friends of the UK here in Taiwan to celebrate together; although the celebration this evening is everything but short of Trooping the Colour.
We all have noticed that The United Kingdom has long been Taiwan’s like-minded partner. We share the common values of democracy, freedom and respect for human rights. We all have just past the corner of June 4th, and we know what it means. Recently, Taiwan has supported the joint UK-Canada Defend Media Freedom initiative, which aims to safeguard the safety of journalists worldwide. This shows that whenever and wherever needed, we stand ready with the UK and other like-minded partners to defend and protest our shared values. And with this in mind, we sincerely appreciate the UK government’s longstanding support for Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations, including our recent efforts to attend last month’s World Health Assembly in Geneva.
There is so much good news when it comes to the closer ties that Taiwan and the UK are developing—so much so, in fact, that I only have time to share some of the highlights. With the UK actively seeking to deepen commerce and trade with key trading partners, in late April we were pleased to see the UK government list Taiwan as one of its fastest-growing export partners. Specifically, UK exports to Taiwan were up by more than 40 percent in 2018, far exceeding the overall growth rate for UK exports. Last September, we also signed an MOU on FinTech Cooperation, which will facilitate market entry for both countries’ fintech companies. And in late March this year, the Taiwan-UK Smart City Forum, taking place in Taipei for the third year, carried on expanding the business opportunities surrounding autonomous vehicles. Going forward, we hope to maintain this dynamism across all available channels, to work on and work out further collaboration benefiting both sides.
Now, I want to take this opportunity to commend Representative Catherine Nettleton. Thanks to her dedication and leadership, as well as the efforts of her able team at the British Office Taipei. Taiwan-UK cooperation continues to thrive across the board.
In closing, I once again wish Her Majesty the Queen a very Happy Birthday! May the UK continue to shine on the world stage out of all the challenge now at hand; may our two countries enjoy everlasting friendship. And with that, I wish a very pleasant evening to all of you. Thank you!