‘Sweden’s house’ in the Taipei motion presented at the Riksdag
SUPPORT:
By changing the name, legislators hope to emphasize that Taiwan should be seen as a nation and not a province in China, said Markus Wiechel
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By Jake Chung / Personnel Writer, with CNA
Swedish legislators have proposed a motion to have a building in Taiwan that is similar to the House of Sweden in Washington, with the motion expected to be debated and voted on soon, the Foreign Ministry said yesterday.
The idea was first mentioned on April 14 during a five-day visit to Taiwan by a Swedish delegation.
The House Sweden’s building in Washington is a performance about the climate in Sweden and its political transparency. In addition to being the Swedish embassy, the building also houses the embassies of Iceland and Liechtenstein as well as Swedish companies.
Photo: EPA-EFE / Ministry of Foreign Affairs
The delegation said it would propose that the name of Sweden’s representative office in Taipei, Swedish Trade and Invest Council, be changed to House of Sweden to symbolize an expanded range of diplomatic work in Taiwan, head of the European Ministry Remus Chen (陳立國) said yesterday.
The Deputy Speaker of the Riksdag, Kerstin Lundgren, told reporters in Taipei on 14 April that she had been one of the legislators who initiated the motion and added that it had been supported by a majority of the legislators in the Riksdag’s Foreign Affairs Committee.
While the Swedish government has the last word, the Swedish parliament hopes to be able to express its support for Taiwan through this gesture, Lundgren said.
– As a sovereign nation, it is up to Sweden how the “one China” policy is interpreted. From our point of view, the name change does not violate the “one China” policy, “she said.
By changing the name to House of Sweden, we hope to emphasize that Taiwan should be seen as a sovereign nation and not a province in China, said the Swedish legislator Markus Wiechel then.
At the same time, the ministry declined to comment on whether the defeat of Slovenian Prime Minister Janez Jansa in Sunday’s election would affect a reported plan to open mutual offices.
When asked if the ousting of Jansa could jeopardize the reported talks, Chen did not directly answer the question, but only said that Taiwan had congratulated Slovenia on holding a “peaceful election through a democratic process.”
“The government is ready to deepen its cooperation with the new Slovenian government on various fronts and across party lines in order to pursue mutually beneficial relations,” he said without developing it.
In Sunday’s election, the ruling Slovenian Democratic Party, led by Jansa, was defeated by Robert Golob and his party, the Freedom Movement.
Jansa has visited Taiwan on four occasions and he founded the Slovenia-Taiwan Parliamentarian Friendship Association.
In an interview with the Indian broadcaster Doordarshan in January, Jansa said that Slovenia and Taiwan were working to change representatives and open representative offices.
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