Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen on Monday told a European Parliament Green Party delegation that she looks forward to closer bilateral cooperation in the areas of false information prevention, supply chain security, and business and trade.
The pan-European Green Party delegation, led by Reinhard Bütikofer from Germany, who also heads the European Parliament's group for relations with China, started a four-day visit to Taiwan on Monday.
Tsai told visiting European delegates that, in the face of the expansion of authoritarianism and the threat of disinformation, Taiwan has strengthened cooperation with other democratic countries to jointly protect regional democracy, freedom and stable development. She said the visit will help boost exchanges on issues of common concern, according to a statement from her office
Bütikofer said the European Union's cooperation with Taiwan is based on shared alues of human rights, democracy and "the value of the rule of law. And on that basis, we build our solidarity."
Heidi Hautala, a Finnish Green Party member and vice president of the European Parliament as well as three other German Green party lawmakers, along with Bütikofer, met with Tsai.
Bütikofer said the visit also aims to enhance opportunities for substantive cooperation with Taiwan and strengthen the Taiwan-EU partnership.
The delegation will also meet with Taiwan's Foreign Minister Joseph Wu, other lawmakers and government officials.
Monday's visit follows last week's visit to the European Parliament from Taiwan's vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim - the first time a Taiwanese vice president-elect was invited to the parliament before taking office.
Hsiao's visit to Europe demonstrated that Taiwan and the EU are like-minded partners share the same values and understand the need to maintain peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, the foreign ministry said.
