May 28, 2015
No. 107
Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Dr. Viviane Reding, Honorary Chairperson of the European Parliament-Taiwan Friendship Group, will visit the Republic of China from May 28 to 30, 2015.
Dr. Reding will have an audience with President Ma Ying-jeou, and call at the Mainland Affairs Council, Ministry of Economic Affairs, and Chinese International Economic Cooperation Association. Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Vanessa Y. P. Shih will host a luncheon in her honor. In addition, at the invitation of the Association of Foreign Relations, Dr. Reding will deliver the speech “Geopolitics of the Trade Policy: How to Shape and Regularize the International Order” at the Institute of Diplomacy and International Affairs. She will visit the Cloud Gate Theater, Liuligongfang, National Palace Museum, and Taipei Guest House.
As an MEP from 1989 to 1999, especially during her tenure as Chairperson of the European Parliament-Taiwan Friendship Group between 1994 and 1999, Dr. Reding pushed for the European Parliament to adopt numerous resolutions favorable to Taiwan, on “Taiwan’s participation in GATT” in 1993, on mainland China’s military threats toward Taiwan in February and March 1996, and “On Taiwan’s role in international organizations” in July 1996, in which she ardently urged the EU to set up a representative office in Taiwan. Furthermore, from 1999 to 2014, in her various capacities as a Member of the European Commission, responsible for education, culture, youth, media and sports, information society and media, and later as Vice President of the European Commission, Dr. Reding brought Taiwan-EU relations even further upwards, especially in securing Schengen visa waiver status for ROC passport holders. Dr. Reding was awarded Doctor Honoris Causa from the Fu Jen Catholic University in 2004. (E)