Ties between Taiwan and the European Parliament are expected to improve after the pro-Taiwan Irish liberal Pat Cox was elected on Tuesday as the president of the EU's only directly elected body, a senior official at Taiwan's foreign ministry said yesterday.
"Cox's victory in the election will be conducive to better ties between Taiwan and the European Parliament," said David Lin (
David Lee (李大維), Taiwan's top representative to Brussels, traveled to Strasbourg, France, home to the 626-member assembly, to present Cox with a congratulatory telegram from President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) soon after the election, Lin said.
"Cox said he found it meaningful to receive Chen's congratulatory message soon after his victory," Lin said.
Taiwan views the former TV journalist from Limerick as pro-Taiwan. He played a key role in facilitating first lady Wu Shu-chen's (
"By hosting this event at the European Parliament, we wish to underline our deep concern at the current visa policy," Cox was quoted as saying during the ceremony on Nov. 13.
Cox then accused EU foreign ministers of secretly agreeing among themselves not to grant visas to Taiwan's top five officials, including the president, vice president, premier and ministers of foreign affairs and defense.
He also said that this was particularly ironic as the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, viewed by China as a separatist, had just visited Strasbourg to address the European Parliament.
Cox, 49, fought three ballots against a Scotsman, David Martin, the candidate of the socialist group in the assembly. He won 298 votes against 237 for Martin and 33 for the Danish Euro-sceptic Jens-Peter Bonde.
Cox has led the 53-strong Liberal Democrat group at the European Parliament. His victory breaks the 20-year duopoly of socialists and conservatives in the increasingly powerful institution, which has suffered over the years from the lack of clout that national electorates expect of a parliament, critics said.
On the related matter of the long-awaited establishment of an EU trade office in Taiwan, Lin said Taiwan was hoping the office would be up and running at "the end of this year."
Lee told the Taipei Times earlier this month that the EU planned "in principle" to open the office in the latter half of this year.
As Taiwan's WTO accession approached, the European Commission on July 3 last year issued a report on the restructuring of EU offices overseas that proposed the opening of a trade office in Taiwan.
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