EU 'ambassador' praises Taiwan passport plans

By Martin Banks - 5th March 2009

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The EU's top representative in Taiwan has praised the country's visa waiver programme as a model for Brussels to follow.

Guy Ledoux, head of the Taipei-based European Economic and Trade Office, comes amid calls by MEPs for visa restrictions on Taiwan people visiting Europe to be lifted.

Ledoux, who serves as the de facto EU ambassador in Taiwan in the absence of formal diplomatic relations, said the EU "very much welcomed" steps taken by Taiwan last year to eliminate visa requirements for citizens of some member states and issue electronic passports which are difficult to forge.

"This step will certainly help put in place an appropriate background to launch a discussion on this issue in Europe," he said.

Currently, anyone from Taiwan wishing to visit virtually all member states has to apply for a visa.

German centre-right MEP Georg Jarzenbowski, a member of parliament's Taiwan friendship group, recently called for 90-day visa-free travel for Taiwanese citizens, saying this would help boost trade, economic and cultural links between the two.

The UK government recently announced that from 3 March holders of Republic of China (Taiwan) passports are eligible for visa-free entry to Britain for a maximum stay of six months.

Meanwhile, Chinese premier Wen Jiabao says Beijing is ready to talk to Taiwan about reaching a peace deal.

His comments underlined China's keenness to bring the island closer after six decades of hostility.

They came as Wen warned that the year ahead would be the most difficult the country had faced this century because of the global economy crisis.

Speaking in the National People's Congress, he said, "Cross-strait relations have embarked on the track of peaceful development."

Relations between the two thawed when President Ma Ying-jeou took office in Taipei last May, having campaigned on a platform of improving cross-strait relations.