Taipei, Dec. 8 (CNA) When the Council of the European Union
unanimously finalized the inclusion of Taiwan in its visa-waiver program in late November, local travelers were the main winners, but it also highlighted Taiwan's improving ties with Europe.
President Ma Ying-jeou hailed the EU approval as "an important accomplishment in the diplomatic history of the Republic of China," one that he said also showed that Taiwan is a "respectable" country.
The visa exemption was another sign of progress in Taiwan's relations with European countries, following its signing of a new aviation agreement with the United Kingdom and a double taxation avoidance agreement with Hungary earlier this year.
Chen Chien-jen, a former foreign affairs minister who served as Taiwan's representative to the EU from 2004 to 2006, attributed the breakthrough and improving ties with Europe in part to Ma's "flexible diplomacy" policy aimed at reducing tensions with China.
Chen said the EU has always hoped for peace across the Taiwan Strait and that the two sides become more engaged with each other.
The confrontational relations between Taiwan and China that existed when the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was in power from 2000 to 2008 and its advocacy of "one country on either side" limited to some extent progress in negotiating the visa-waiver issue with the EU, Chen said.
"The success in securing visa exemptions for the Schengen Area is a positive result of improving cross-strait relations," said Chen, who was Taiwan's representative to the United States from 2000 to 2004.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) officials echoed Chen's view.
They said that getting the EU visa exemption was once considered a "mission impossible" because Taiwan's relations with Europe have traditionally not been as close as its ties with the United States and Japan.
But Ma's conciliatory approach and pragmatic efforts to improve relations with China drew public recognition from EU authorities on many occasions, the officials said, and MOFA diplomats at home and in Europe took advantage of the new atmosphere to push for the goal.
The drive finally took off in July when the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, put forth a concrete bill to include Taiwan in the visa-waiver program.
The proposal then went through a 15-step process and is now waiting only to be signed by the European Parliament speaker and rotating EU president on Dec. 15, considered to be a formality, before taking effect in January 2011.
After the proposal cleared its last hurdle in the Council of the European Union on Nov. 25 by unanimous consent without discussion, Minister of Foreign Affairs Timothy C.T. Yang said it was great news that Taiwan had long waited for.
The visa waiver means that Republic of China (Taiwan) passport holders will be able to enter the 35 European countries included in the program visa-free and stay for up to 90 days within a six-month period.
The exemption will apply to 25 Schengen Area countries,
comprising 22 EU member states and three non-EU states -- Norway, Iceland and Switzerland -- and three non-Schengen EU member states -- Romania, Bulgaria and Cyprus.
It also includes seven smaller European countries and territories -- the Vatican, Monaco, Andorra, Liechtenstein, San Marino, Greenland and the Faroe Islands.
"The EU inclusion marks a giant step toward our aim to boost the number of countries that grant Taiwan visa-waiver privileges to 100 by 2011, when we celebrate our country's 100th anniversary," Yang said.
There are now 96 countries and territories offering Taiwanese citizens visa exemptions, with 75 granting local passport holders visa-waiver privileges and 21 others allowing travelers to pick up visas on arrival.
In the two and a half years since Ma launched his "flexible diplomacy" approach, 43 more countries or territories have granted visa-free access to ROC passport holders.
The EU exemption came three days after Canada granted Taiwan the same privilege on Nov. 22. Yang said the EU and Canada exemptions would save Taiwan people visa application fee of around NT$1.5 billion (US$49.18 million) every year, including more than NT$ 1 billion for the Schengen visas. An average of 310,000 Taiwan nationals visit Europe every year, according to MOFA statistics.
In the coming years, Yang said, Taiwan will be exploring
visa-free opportunities in countries such as the United States, Australia, Malaysia, Vietnam, Myanmar, the Philippines and 18 oversea territories of the United Kingdom, France and the Netherlands.
Taiwan will also keep seeking visa exemptions in six Balkan countries -- Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia, the minister added.
(By Emmanuelle Tzeng and Sofia Wu)
Source: CNA
