On the afternoon of May 16, Legislative Yuan Vice President Dr. Johnny Chiang met the four-member delegation led by the Riksdag MP Margareta Cederfelt of the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defense accompanied by DPP Legislator Lai Hui-yuan, who is concurrently the vice chair of Taiwan- Nordic Countries and Baltic States Parliamentary Friendship Association, KMT Legislator Niu Hsu-ting and TPP Legislator Mai Yu-chen, International Affairs Department Director Kevin C.F. Lin, and European Affairs Department Director General Eric Huang of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to meet the four-member delegation led by the Riksdag MP Margareta Cederfelt of the Joint Committee on Foreign Affairs and Defense .
On behalf of President Daniel Han, Vice President Chiang extended a warm welcome to the delegation. He apologized to the delegation that President Han was not able to meet the delegation in person because he was presiding over a cross-party negotiation. He hoped to have their understanding as they are all parliamentarians as well. Vice President Chiang introduced the legislators from the three party caucuses. Vice President Chiang stated that although Sweden is geographically distant from Taiwan, we feel very close to each other, because there are many Swedish brands that are household names in our daily lives. One of the examples is IKEA, which has a lot of branches. It happens that the branch with the top revenues is in his hometown Taichung City. In addition, the fast fashion brand H&M and Volvo automobiles, and the second largest home appliance brand Electrolux are all from Sweden.
He continued to state that although Sweden’s population is not large, it is advanced in industry, high-tech and education. Although Sweden does not have diplomatic relations with Taiwan, we have enjoyed longstanding cordial economic and trade relations. In addition, we share the universal values of freedom, democracy, rule of law and human rights. Sweden is widely recognized for its achievements in social welfare, environmental protection, respect and protection of women’s rights and human rights. As the vanguard of environmental protection, Sweden marked the first country to pass environmental protection bill in 1967 and is committed to be the first country to obtain the goal of net zero in 2045. As Sweden pursues economic development, it underscores the importance of environmental protection and sustainable development. He hoped that Taiwan and Sweden will have more cooperation. He believed this is also the shared aspiration of cross-party legislators.
Vice President Chiang continued to stress that in the future through parliamentary exchanges, cooperation in all domains can be further strengthened. He also hoped that Sweden will continue to support Taiwan’s meaningful participation in World Health Organization, United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and other important international organizations.
In her speech, MP Margareta Cederfelt expressed her appreciation to Vice President Chiang and the legislators of three party caucuses for their time to meet the delegation and she introduced the cross-party member of the delegations. She continued point out that Sweden-Taiwan Friendship Group in the Riksdag has been very active. Dr. Klement Ruey-sheng Gu, Representative of Taipei Mission in Sweden organizes various activities and seminars to promote the Swedish people’s understanding about Taiwan. It is worth noting that Taiwan’s outstanding anti-pandemic efforts several years ago impressed the world and are worthy for the world to emulate. She underscored that Sweden would continue to support Taiwan’s meaningful participation in various international organizations. Sweden-Taiwan Friendship Group will continue to support Taiwan in various ways. As Vice President Chiang mentioned Taiwan and Sweden have exchanges and share interests in all domains such as commerce, medicine and education. Taiwan is a global player in high technology and semiconductor and is a great partner for Sweden. She continued to praise Taiwan’s democratic achievements. Especially facing today’s complicated international situation, democracy in most countries is backsliding, but Taiwan continues to flourish. In addition to passing bills related with same-sex marriage, no political party has an absolute majority in the Legislative Yuan after this year’s presidential and parliamentary elections. This new political situation once again demonstrates Taiwan’s full-fledged democracy. Therefore, she looked forward to the visiting programs of this visit. She hoped to find more opportunities for bilateral reciprocal cooperation through this visit.
During engagements, DPP Legislator Lai Hui-yuan, on behalf of Taiwan- Nordic Countries and Baltic States Parliamentary Friendship Association, stated that she comes from the same city with President Lai, Tainan City. She extended an invitation to the delegation to Tainan City, that is going to celebrate the 400 anniversary this year. The delegation can also visit Tainan Science Park and TSMC. TPP Legislator Mai Yu-chen noted that her priority issue is birth rate. She asked the delegation about Sweden’s incentive policy. KMT Legislator Niu Hsu-ting stated that the famous Tetra Pak factory is in his constituency Guishan district of Taoyuan. Sweden is an advanced and mature country and is internationally recognized for its environmental protection. Although Taiwan confronts diplomatic challenges, it will play a role in combating climate change and other global issues. He hoped the delegation will share their valuable experiences in this regard.
In her response to TPP Legislator Mai Yu-chen’s inquiry about birth rate, MP Margareta Cederfelt responded by sharing that Sweden’s birth rate is not as high as expected, lower than its national target of 2.1%. However, the Swedish government has carried out many incentives to increase birth rate such as public childcare, maternal leave and parental leave to share the burden to increase women labor participation and protect women working rights. She especially mentioned that she found the women legislator’s ratio has dramatically increased in the Legislative Yuan. She was amazed and admired the tremendous progress Taiwan has made in many ways these years.
Vice President China agreed and pointed out that Taiwan ahs seen concrete results in promoting gender equality and gender mainstreaming for years. In terms of this legislative elections, the ratio of woman’s legislators has increased from 30.1% in 2008 to 41.6% this year. Women have remarkable achievements in workplace. He hoped to see a woman legislative speaker or deputy speaker in the future.
Vice President Chiang, the three legislators and the delegation exchanged views on issues of gender equality, net zero emission, democracy, freedom political and economic development, incentives to increase birth rate, young generation political participation and others. The meeting lasted for nearly 50 minutes and concluded in an amicable atmosphere after exchange of gifts and group photos.
