Taipei Times
Date: Jul 11, 2016
By: Cheng Chi-fang, Liberty Times
Taiwan’s first representative to the WTO, Yen Ching-chang, told Liberty Times (sister newspaper of the the Taipei Times) reporter Cheng Chi-fang that the UK’s vote to leave the EU should be cause to reflect on Taiwan’s approach to regional economic integration, and it is time to drop the ECFA in favor of the Trans-Pacific Partnership
Liberty Times (LT): Was the Brexit result influenced by the history of the UK’s participation in efforts to forge a pan-European identity?
Yen Ching-chang (顏慶章): There is of course a connection between the decision for Brexit and the UK’s decision to join the EU. The first person to call for the establishment of a pan-European identity or organization was actually former British prime minister Winston Churchill [sic], who called for a “United States of Europe” in September 1946.
Churchill’s call was based on the hope that Europe, heavily damaged by two consecutive world wars, would be able to put its unhappy history behind it. Despite Churchill’s call, the UK never thought that it should be a part of such an organization.
The first stage of realizing the move was the formation of the European Economic Community (EEC) in 1957, which the UK did not join until 1973. [FULL INTERVIEW]