October 17, 2023
No. 353
Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China (Taiwan) Jaushieh Joseph Wu hosted a banquet on the evening of October 16 in honor of a delegation from the Belgian Chamber of Representatives led by Els Van Hoof, Chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, Cochair of the Belgium-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group, and Cochair of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China. Georges Dallemagne, a member of the Foreign Relations Committee and Cochair of the Belgium-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group, served as honorary head of the delegation. Minister Wu thanked Chair Van Hoof and members of the delegation for their long-standing and staunch support and friendship for Taiwan.
Minister Wu thanked the Belgian Parliament for its concern for Taiwan over the years and for adopting numerous resolutions endorsing Taiwan’s international participation. He also thanked its members for raising questions in the parliament in April and September concerning China’s military intimidation against Taiwan to which Belgian Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib had reiterated Belgium’s support for de-escalating tensions and preserving the status quo of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. Regarding international support for Taiwan, Minister Wu stressed that Taiwan hoped to make substantive contributions to the international community and cited the example of Taiwan’s humanitarian assistance to Ukraine and proactive efforts to help Ukrainian people rebuild their homes since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war.
Minister Wu welcomed the Belgian delegation’s visit as a concrete demonstration of support for Taiwan and said he anticipated deeper cooperation with Belgium and other like-minded partners. He added he hoped that Taiwan could share its strengths with the international community and that the Taiwanese people could employ their spirit of cooperation and willingness to help others.
Chair Van Hoof thanked the Taiwan government for its warm hospitality. She expressed that the delegation featured balanced representation across the political spectrum, genders, regions, and languages, and that they had united for the trip so as to demonstrate cross-party solidarity in support of democratic Taiwan. She noted that Taiwan was a beacon of democracy in Asia and shared with Belgium the core values of democracy, freedom, and the rule of law. By this visit, she hoped to reemphasize the importance of maintaining the status quo of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait given the growing threat of authoritarianism and China’s ever-increasing military pressure on Taiwan. She was also in support of reciprocal and mutually beneficial cooperation and exchanges between the two countries on economics, education, culture, technology, and renewable energy, among other domains. (E)