A delegation of EU lawmakers is to visit Taiwan from Dec. 19 to 21, the European Parliament’s Committee on International Trade announced on Thursday.
European lawmaker Bernd Lange, who chairs the committee, said he hopes the visit will yield fruitful discussions on deepening Taiwan-EU collaboration.
The committee, which has never before sent a delegation to Taiwan, discussed collaboration with the nation on Thursday, and the debate was markedly more optimistic than a debate the day before on trade with China, during which members addressed Beijing’s increasingly aggressive practices.
In his opening statement, Lange said that as soon the negotiation of the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment concluded two years ago, the committee began discussing a similar agreement with Taiwan.
However, there has been no breakthrough on an agreement with Taiwan, he added.
The delegation is to be led by European lawmaker Iuliu Winkler, the committee member in charge of affairs with Taiwan, China and Hong Kong.
Winkler said aside from working together on supply chain security, Taiwan and the EU should also work on bolstering collaboration on research and development projects.
European lawmaker Reinhard Butikofer, chair of the parliament’s Delegation for Relations with the People’s Republic of China, said that he would like to see bilateral partnerships between Taiwan and the EU in as many areas as possible, such as between trade unions and non-governmental organizations.
Butikofer also addressed a recently published impact assessment report on the signing of a Taiwan-EU agreement on supply chain resilience, saying that the findings would encourage “thinking outside the box” as the two sides seek to advance their relationship.
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