The Legislative Yuan

Press Release

April 25, 2023

President You meets 11-member delegation from Caribbean, Latin America Formosa Club chapters

You Si-kun: Grateful for Latin America and Caribbean countries for their support to Taiwan and hope for future cooperation

Accompanied by Legislator Tsai Shih-ying, who is concurrently vice chairman of Taiwan-Central American and Caribbean Parliamentary  Amity Association, Legislator Wen Yu-hsia, who is concurrently chairperson of the Republic of China (Taiwan) and Republic of Paraguay Parliamentary Amity Association, Taiwan People’s Party Convener Chiu Chen-yuan, New Power Party Legislator Wang Wan-yu, Secretary General Lin Jih-jia, Consultant Chou Ya-shu, Secretariat Director Kung Ping-chieh, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Secretary General Tang Diann-Wen, Department of Latin American and Caribbean Affairs Deputy Director General Francisco T.H. Chang. Consul General Chen Kuen-pu, President You met a delegation from Caribbean, Latin America Formosa Club chapters at 3 P.M. on April 25.

On behalf of Legislative Yuan, President You extended a sincere welcome to the delegation and thanked the Caribbean, Latin America Formosa Club chapters with more than one hundred political figures and parliamentarians from 21 countries and the Central American Parliament for continuing to voice in support of Taiwan’s participation in WHO, ICAO, UNFCCC and other international organizations in the international community.

President You continued to state that Freedom in the World 2023 report published by Freedom House in March this year, Taiwan’s freedom and openness ranked 17 out of 21 countries and regions in the world and second in Asia. China is rated as not a free country. In recent years, China continued to conduct military exercises surrounding Taiwan and send warplanes circumnavigating Taiwan, showing its arbitrary nature. He further pointed out that China gave unreliable promises of providing financial assistance to infiltrate Taiwan’s Latin American and Caribbean diplomatic allies, making many of them falling into a huge debt trap.

President You concluded his remarks by thanking Latin American and Caribbean countries for their support to Taiwan. He hoped to deepen future cooperation and promote parliamentary exchanges. He also hoped that Taiwan can work with all distinguished guest to make collective efforts for protecting universal values to fight against the authoritarian regimes.

In his remarks, Argentinian Representative Rubén Manzi expressed his honor to receive the warm welcome from the Legislative Yuan. He thanked legislators from different party caucuses and members of the parliamentary amity associations for their presence. He stated that as a parliamentarian, he or she needs to be responsible for making law and to voice for the people and to oversee the administration.

He continued to state that many Latin American countries were oppressed by violence or dictators. Although it is not easy to heal these wounds, the noblest goodness is peace. Taiwan has been making efforts for defending democracy and peace. All members of the delegation are convinced of the importance of defending freedom and shared freedom and diversity. They respect Taiwan’s efforts in transforming from authoritarian regime to full democracy.

He concluded by pointing out the world will experience difficult choice in the following years, regardless of autocracy or democracy will not just stay in argument but will be deeply rooted in our lives. Facing the threats of autocracy, friendship between democracies is very important. He pledged to the Taiwanese friends that all parliamentarians present will be with Taiwan in Latin America. Their homes will be the homes of Taiwan.

Legislator Tsai Shih-ying began by extending a warm welcome to the delegation and thanked their hospitality when he visited Ecuador in February this year. He hoped to host the delegation when they were in Taiwan. Legislator Wen Yu-hsia showed her warm welcome to the delegation. As the chairperson of Republic of China (Taiwan) and Republic of Paraguay Parliamentary Amity Association, she welcomed many delegations from Paraguay. Before she served a legislator, she was the President of the World Taiwanese Chambers of Commerce and understood that many Taiwanese businesspeople had good development in Central and Southern America. Between June 14 and 16, Central and Southern American Chambers of Commerce was going to conduct an annual meeting. She hoped to meet with parliamentarian friends of Paraguay and Brazil. Legislator Chiu Chen-yuan continued to state that he was just like Legislator Wen Yu-hsia, he used to be the secretary general of the World Taiwanese Chambers of Commerce. Latin America is one of his favorite destinations. Although Latin American is geographically distant from Taiwan, they enjoy close relations. In particular, parliamentarians continued to support Taiwan with actions in the international community. He hoped that in the upcoming WHA, members of the delegation would continue to support Taiwan to give Taiwan the opportunity to make contributions to the world. He also hoped to see more technological cooperation in the future and hoped to visit Latin American and Caribbean countries. Legislator Wang Wan-yu stated that she is the chair of the Legislative Yuan Child and Juvenile Rights Promotion Association and vice chair of Human Rights Commission. She attaches great importance to human rights issues. She hoped that members of the delegation will continue to support Taiwan’s participation in international organizations to promote cooperation in the fields of economics, technology, culture and education.