On the afternoon of May 22, President Han met the Slovak parliamentary delegation to presidential inauguration accompanied by Vice Chairman Dr. Johnny C. Chiang, legislators Ma Wen-chun, Huang Shiou-Fang, Wu Chun-cheng, International Affairs Department Director Kevin C.F. Lin and Department of European Affairs Director General Eirc Huang of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to meet the Slovak parliamentary delegation to presidential inauguration.
President Han first extended a sincere welcome to the Slovak parliamentary delegation to the Legislative Yuan of the Republic of China. He condemned the street shooting incident against Prime Minister Robert Fico last week. On behalf of the Legislative Yuan, the government and the people of our government, President Han conveyed his sympathy to Prime Minister Fico and wished him a speedy recovery.
President Han thanked Slovakia Republic for supporting Taiwan’s participation in World Health Assembly with concrete actions. He stated that Vice President Chiang would lead a cross-party delegation to Geneva, Switzerland this month to participate in related events and would hold an international press conference to speak up for Taiwan and to urge the countries to include Taiwan in international medical protection mechanism to enable Taiwan to make contributions to disease prevention efforts and to the protection of health for all mankind. He hoped Slovakia would continue to support Taiwan. President Han shared his previous visit to Slovakia two year ago and was impressed by the delicious gourmet and beautiful scenery. Taiwan is the second largest Asian investing country in Slovakia. He hoped the two countries would strengthen cooperation in addition to economics, trade, commerce, culture, education and tourism. He welcomed more Slovak students to Taiwan to receive higher education to deepen people-to-people ties.
The head of the delegation, MP Ondrej Dostál thanked President Han, Vice President Chiang and legislators from three party caucuses for finding time to welcome the delegation. He stated that the delegation was comprised of opposition parliamentarians. They were honored to have the opportunity to exchange views with legislators. He thanked President Han for his sympathy to Prime Minister Fico. They also opposed to settle political disparities with violence. It was fortunate that Prime Minister’s situation had stabilized, and the delegation hoped to see his speedy recovery.
He continued to point out that Taiwan and Slovakia are each other’s important partners, and need to strengthen exchanges and cooperation in all domains. Taiwan and Slovakia share similarities in democratization. Taking Taiwan as an example, Dr. Sun Yat-sen founded the Republic of China in 1911. Whereas the history of Slovakia started from the Republic of Czechoslovakia, whose founding father is greatly respected like Dr. Sun Yat-sen. After WWII, Czech Republic and Slovakia experienced the authoritarian rule like Taiwan. Therefore, all of us value democracy more. He stressed that Taiwan and Slovakia will not be limited to only economic and trade cooperation. More importantly, Taiwan respects democracy and is willing to have peaceful exchanges with countries. The delegation was going to attend the presidential and vice-presidential inauguration to show their firm support to Taiwan and hoped all democracies value democratic Taiwan. He also took the opportunity to thank for donating 700,000 masks to the people of Slovakia, who will forever cherish this friendship.
President Han mentioned about the physical conflicts in the chamber of the Legislative Yuan recently. He stressed that promoting parliamentary diplomacy is the shared goal of all members of the Legislative Yuan regardless of political parties. The entire members of the Legislative Yuan welcomed our parliamentary good friends from all over the world. Vice President Chiang added that compared with the past, we had relatively fewer parliamentary delegation from East Europe. In recent years, we have seen a great increase of the foreign dignitaries from Europe, symbolizing our increasingly closer relations with Europe. Among which, Taiwan and Slovakia shared universal values. Therefore, it is very important for bilateral parliamentary engagements and hoped both sides will continue to deepen exchanges to promote friendship.
The head of the delegation, MP Ondrej Dostál, delegation members, President Han, Vice President China, and legislators exchange views on issues such as global backsliding of democracy, bilateral cooperation, humanitarian aid to Ukraine, Taiwan’s health insurance system and its inspiration to global public health, brain drain of Slovakia, and educational cooperation. The visiting delegation reiterated its firm support to Taiwan’s participation in World Health Assembly this year and would send a letter to WHO Director General as before to urge him to invite Taiwan to participate in WHA as an observer based on the spirit of inclusion. The meeting lasted for about one hour in an amicable atmosphere and concluded after exchange of gifts.
