May 25, 2023
No. 176
The Formosa Club in Europe held its first annual Unity Summit and reception on May 24, hosted by Michael Gahler, Chair of the European Parliament-Taiwan Friendship Group. Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China (Taiwan) Roy Chun Lee was invited to attend the event.
A total of 27 cochairs and key members of the Formosa Club from 20 European countries and the European Parliament participated in person or online to discuss issues of common concern to Taiwan and Europe after the COVID-19 pandemic. With the World Health Assembly (WHA) being held in Geneva, they also strongly endorsed Taiwan’s participation in the World Health Organization (WHO) and other international organizations. Furthermore, a statement was adopted at the summit calling for the preservation of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and the strengthening of Taiwan-EU cooperation, demonstrating Europe’s genuine friendship for Taiwan. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) sincerely welcomes and appreciates these actions.
In his remarks at the summit, Deputy Minister Lee stated that the Formosa Club was founded in October 2019 at the initiative of the chairs of the Taiwan Friendship Groups of the European Parliament and the parliaments of the United Kingdom, France, and Germany. He added that this subsequently led to the establishment of chapters in Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa and West Asia, and the Indo-Pacific. Observing that the Formosa Club has become the strongest interparliamentary platform supporting Taiwan on the international stage, Deputy Minister Lee thanked the club’s cochairs for backing Taiwan’s participation in the WHA by issuing joint letters for four consecutive years to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. He also expressed gratitude for their joint statements and letters condemning China’s military drills in the waters around Taiwan and supporting the deepening of relations between Taiwan and Lithuania. Deputy Minister Lee urged democracies to work together to bolster supply chain resilience and safeguard shared security and prosperity in order to prevent authoritarian expansion from posing challenges to them.
Chair Gahler and club members praised Taiwan for its contributions to global public health and its outstanding performance in epidemic prevention and control. They reiterated their support for Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations such as WHO, the International Civil Aviation Organization, the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, and the International Criminal Police Organization. In addition, they denounced China’s assertive and expansionist actions in recent years, expressing concern over its military provocations and coercion against Taiwan and underscoring that peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait are closely related to the prosperity of the Indo-Pacific region and Europe. The Formosa Club cochairs also expressed their commitment to further deepening cooperation between Europe and Taiwan and urged global democratic partners to strongly support Taiwan.
Formosa Club participants in the annual summit hailed from the European Parliament and the parliaments of the United Kingdom, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Italy, Spain, Ireland, Sweden, Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Romania, Slovenia, Kosovo, and Norway. Three parliamentarians—from Poland, Portugal, and Canada—delivered prerecorded video remarks at the event, demonstrating the transatlantic consensus on supporting Taiwan’s participation in WHO.
A reception was held after the summit, which was attended by more than 70 European Parliament members, parliamentarians from various countries, parliamentary assistants, and party caucus policy advisors. (E)