Tue, Feb 06, 2024 page2

• DPP lawmakers vow to boost friendship groups

  CONTINUATION: Members of the legislature are wary of the new speaker’s impact on relations considering his previous gaffes, and want to maintain or build ties

  • By Chen Cheng-yu and Jason Pan / Staff reporters
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  Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers have commenced work to carry out international networking with other countries through parliamentary friendship groups.

  Efforts are underway by DPP lawmakers, including Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉), who petitioned fellow lawmakers to act as cosponsors to continue programs from the past legislative terms, headed the legislature’s Taiwan-African Countries Parliamentary Friendship Association, and the Baltic states friendship group, among others.

  “Now we have Chinese nationalist Party’s (KMT) Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) voted in as the legislative speaker, and he is perceived as being pro-China, and so there are dignitaries and political leaders from foreign countries who had intended to visit Taiwan who might not visit. This is quite worrying to us,” Chiu yesterday said.

  

  Attendants at the lanuch of the Taiwan-New Zealand Inter-Parliamentary Amity Association and the Taiwan-Four Nordic Countries Parliamentary Friendship Association are pictured at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei on Feb 24 last year.

  Photo: CNA

  The past legislative groups finished at the end of the previous legislative term and must restart with a new term, so DPP lawmakers are striving to forge new links with other countries to establish bilateral relations, thereby securing more friends for Taiwan in the international community, he added.

  The Legislative Yuan has launched 73 parliamentary friendship associations with other countries, in the just-finished four-year term, as these covered all global regions, including numerous cross-cutting and international issues.

  China is increasingly applying pressure on and intimidates other countries to shrink Taiwan’s international space, therefore the legislature is blazing new diplomatic trails to operate with more flexibility, make a good impression on the world stage and consolidate its friendship with diplomatic allies, Chiu said.

  Also heading up the friendship association with Latin American and Caribbean countries, Chiu said he has commenced efforts for cosponsors to once more set up these programs with parliamentary counterparts in these countries.

  “Taiwan has special circumstances in our international standing, therefore the legislature’s diplomatic initiatives can confer for more flexibility... I have been chairing and managing these friendship associations since entering the legislature. These are not only for friendly talks, but require sustained efforts to forge connections and cultivate diplomatic relations for many years,” he said.

  For example, these legislative groups make steady efforts to provide services for Taiwanese people and business community living abroad, who are ready to provide humanitarian relief and assistance, and promote bilateral cooperation programs with these countries, he said.

  “Our legislature must take up roles to safeguard Taiwan’s freedom and democracy, and protect our national sovereignty... But now DPP lawmakers are concerned with Han’s pro-China stance, which will undermine the past trust in Taiwan by parliamentarians from the democratic alliance, and this would damage the good results we have gained through these diplomatic efforts in past years,” he said.

  DPP Legislator Lin I-chin (林宜瑾), who headed the parliamentary friendship associations related to Switzerland and the Benelux countries, said that Taiwan’s national sovereignty is well recognized around the world, and is recognized in mainstream society.

  “As long as Taiwan maintains its freedom and democracy, then no political party would deny this common stance in our society,” she said.

  “Han made gaffes when meeting with foreign dignitaries, so in what capacity could he claim to represent Taiwanese? Would he convey the wrong message to foreign countries, causing serious damage that erodes trust in Taiwan by democratic countries? These are big questions many people have... I must take up more proactive roles in the international networking of the legislature to give Taiwan a strong voice on the world stage, to counteract disinformation and enhance Taiwan’s friendship with other countries,” Lin said.
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