On the 30th of September 2015 in the House of Europe in Bratislava a discussion was held together with watching the video conference of the President of Republic of China (Taiwan) Ma Ying-jeou with the members of the European Parliament (EP). The EP was represented by several party factions, including the EPP, S&D and ECR. The video conference was moderated by Viviane Reding, with addresses from Jerzy Buzek, Werner Langen and Charles Tannok.  

In Bratislava the discussion between President Ma and the members of the EP was followed by members of the Slovak parliament, experts, university lecturers, journalists and students. The event was organized by the Taipei Representative Office in Bratislava (TRO) and the European Parliament Information Office in Slovakia in cooperation with the Institute for Public Affairs (IVO). The discussion was opened by Andrew Yun-ping Chang, the chief of TRO, who also participated in this discussion.

Andrew Chang discussed with Lucia Husenicová – director of the Institute of Asian Studies, and Gabriela Pleschová – Department of East Asian studies at the Faculty of Arts, issues in respect of the Euro-Taiwan relations in the wider context of the developments in Asia and in the world. The participants of the discussion, which was moderated by Grigorij Mesežnikov, president of IVO, concentrated on several topics, which were brought up during President Ma’s with the members of the EP video-conference. For example, the relations between Taiwan and mainland China, the security situation in East Asia (particularly in the region of the South China Sea), the latest diplomatic initiatives from the Taiwanese government, the deepening economic cooperation between the EU and Taiwan, the result of the democratic transformation on Taiwan and its economic successes.   

Download: Invitation (pdf)