Former NATO secretary-general Anders Fogh Rasmussen arrived in Taiwan yesterday morning for a three-day visit, during which he is to meet with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
Rasmussen, who is also a former Danish prime minister, was welcomed by Department of European Affairs Director Vincent Yao (姚金祥) at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport just after 7am.
During his stay, Rasmussen, who founded the Alliance of Democracies Foundation, would also meet with Vice President William Lai (賴清德), Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮), lawmakers and think tank experts, the ministry said in a statement.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Rasmussen is the first former NATO secretary-general to make an official visit to Taiwan, the foundation said a separate news release.
“The visit will focus on support from the democratic world for Taiwan and closer EU-Taiwan relations,” the foundation said.
Rasmussen looks forward to his visit, his first in nearly three decades since he last was in Taiwan in 1994 as a member of the Danish parliament, the foundation quoted the official as saying.
“The changes in Taiwan in the intervening 30 years have been immense,” Rasmussen said. “Taiwan’s democratic transformation would be impressive under any circumstances. The fact it has happened while facing daily threats and provocations from a nuclear-armed neighbor make it remarkable.”
The trip was a chance to show his support for Taiwan and “its ability to choose its own future freely, peacefully and independently,” he said.
Rasmussen was the 24th prime minister of Denmark, from 2001 to 2009, and the 12th secretary-general of NATO, from August 2009 to October 2014.
In 2017, Rasmussen launched the Alliance of Democracies Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to the advancement of democracy and free markets across the globe.
In this role, he hosts the annual Copenhagen Democracy Summit, which was first held in 2018.
Wu visited Denmark for the annual summit in 2019, while Tsai has also been invited to give a virtual speech at the summit annually since 2020, the ministry said.
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