“This being the case, there are no problems or difficulties that cannot be resolved,” Taiwan National Development Council Minister Kung Ming-hsin said.
“On the basis of this mutual trust … can you tell EU headquarters, on the BIA, can it start, effectively moving it forward?”
President Tsai Ing-wen, addressing the same forum, did not mention the BIA, though she did so at the same event last year.
“My sense is that yes, we do have room for improvement in terms of Taiwanese investment in Europe, but we are working hard on that and just give us a bit more time – we’ll get there eventually,” Tsai said.
A BIA would be politically significant for Taiwan given its diplomatic isolation and general exclusion from most global bodies and agreements, though it is a World Trade Organisation member.
A Taiwanese government official said last month that Taiwan is seeking other trade agreements with the EU given the BIA is a “long shot”.
TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, announced in August a €3.5 billion (US$3.72 billion) investment in Germany for the company’s first factory in Europe.
Source: CNA
