President Ma Ying-jeou welcomed a visiting group of British MP’s on Wednesday.
During a meeting with the delegation, Ma praised developments in Taiwan-UK relations. Ma said that the UK was the first European country to waive visa requirements for Taiwanese nationals. He also said that exchanges between Taiwanese and British youth have increased markedly over the past thirty years. There are 16,000 Taiwanese currently studying in the UK, a major increase over the 36 that were studying in the UK in 1985.
Ma also said in the future, Taiwan could cooperate with the UK in training Chinese language instructors. At the end of 2013, British Prime Minister David Cameron said the UK would train 100 Chinese language teachers by mid-2016. Ma said that training these teachers could become a new area of bilateral cooperation.
"Other areas include renewable resources and rail transport," said Ma. "We have established multi-field, multi-departmental cooperation in these areas. We have much room for cooperation, especially in finance, cultural and creative industries, smart cities, and the training of Chinese language instructors."
Ma also said Taiwan hopes to sign an investment protection agreement and an economic cooperation agreement with the European Union, of which the UK is a member. He asked the visiting MP’s to help promote mutually beneficial economic exchanges both with the UK and the EU.