Tirana Times sat with the Head of the Taipei Representative office in Italy, Ambassador Vincent Tsao on his recent visit to Albania to talk about cooperation and exchange in technology, development, education and more…
Your Excellency, Taiwan is known globally for its advanced technology and innovation sectors. What specific areas of economic or technological cooperation do you see as most promising between Taiwan and Albania?
First, I want to congratulate your new Cabinet. I think the new Government has demonstrated itself in technology and innovation development. I think based on that concept between Albanian and Taiwan we have huge room to work together, for the time being we would like to focus on the economic technological cooperation between two countries, in terms of technological cooperation of course I think semi-conductors for electronics are the key areas. Soon I believe we will have a huge opportunity to work together on Artificial Intelligence. So many areas we can work together in the future, and they look promising.
Both Taiwan and Albania are democratic societies that have undergone significant political transitions. How do you envision strengthening people-to-people ties and promoting shared democratic values through cultural exchange, education, or parliamentary diplomacy?
This is a very important part; Taiwan is the first democratic country in Asia. Over the past two decades we have made huge improvements in our democratic developments and right now I think between Taiwan and Albania, people enjoy and share common values of democracy, freedom and respect for human rights. So, we share the same values, and we of course have a strong foundation to bring connectivity closer not only to people to people but also business to business and Government to Government. So, I think we have the same language on democracy, on freedom, on human rights and we have a strong base to work together in the future. That’s the most important part for future developments. If you want to build stronger technological and economic cooperation we should share the common values.
Taiwan’s diplomatic engagement in Southeast Europe and the Western Balkans has traditionally been limited. How does Taipei view the region’s growing importance, and what forms of cooperation or dialogue could be developed with countries in this part of Europe in the future?
Over the past years we have not paid sufficient attention to Balkan region, but I will assure you that over the past year in 2024 -25 we have our Balkan region policy. We would like to work together with countries in Balkan region and Albanian is the most critical country in the region and we would like to spend more effort in working together with Albania, and another reason is that countries in Balkan region are applying for membership in EU and this is very promising Albania is moving very smoothly, hopefully we can see Albanian soon being a full member of EU, not only Albania but also other countries in the region are moving in the same direction. So, this region is going to be increasingly important in the near future not only for Taiwan but also for other countries around the world, so we would like to take the opportunity to try to move our relations closer between the two countries. I would suggest first we should establish a platform between two governments so government to government platform would be the strong foundation for cooperation on the businesses side but also on cultural exchange, education and tourism cooperation. So first we have to establish a gov to gov platform, secondary we have to identify and prioritize areas we can work together for example microelectronic or semiconductors or AI, smart city industry, thirdly we hope we can assign a contact window from both governments to follow up on the talks. We want to make sure all our talks will be materialized in action. Finally I would like to invite the governments to oversee and implement all the programs arranged by two countries to measure the efficiency and effectiveness of the programs.
In an increasingly tense international environment, especially regarding cross-Strait relations, how does Taiwan balance its global partnerships in Europe?
Europe is the most important region for our diplomacy. We enjoy very strong relations between Taiwan and the USA, but I also would like to emphasize that our relations are also very strong between Taiwan and the EU. So if you look at my government budget, you can see a huge amount of the government budget is spent on the cooperation of Taiwan and European countries, so we will continue to do that of course, the economic cooperation with European countries will be our priority and from this year we would like to promote the cooperation on culture and education sectors. So, there are many areas between Taiwan and Europe that can work together and all this cooperation can apply to the relationship between Taiwan and Albania. And we also provide services through my office in Rome between Albania and Taiwan. So that is my job and also my mission to enhance the relations between Taiwan and Albania. Right now, we are facing some pressure from China, I would like to take this chance to talk about the relations between Taiwan and China. First I would like to emphasize the policy of my government. We would like to open our arms for any dialogue to promote peace between Taiwan and China. There is no winner in the war, so confrontation and military conflict is not going to bring peace, only dialogue and communication will enhance our mutual understanding. We hope this kind of language can be heard by China. My government will do everything to try to maintain the peace and stability on the both side of the Taiwan Strait, I think this is going to bring benefit not only between Taiwan and China but also in the Indo Pacific region and the world.
Looking ahead, are there any concrete projects under discussion between Taiwan and Albania that could pave the way for a more institutionalized partnership?
So far we have some business-to-business cooperation but in very small sizes. In terms of two-way trade between Taiwan and Albania I think the statistics is pretty minor, but from the other perspective we also see huge potentials from both sides to grow our business cooperation. Right now, between Albanian and Taiwan we have so many things we can work together but I have a big dream between two countries, but this big dream should be realized step by step from small and easy part to big and difficult part.
Interviewed by Genc Caushi
Tirana Times Staff
