 Iceland |  Taiwan |
|---|---|
Iceland–Taiwan relations refer to thebilateral relations betweenIceland andTaiwan (officially the Republic of China, ROC). The two countries do not maintain official diplomatic relations as Iceland adheres to theOne China policy, but contacts occur primarily through humanitarian cooperation, and academic exchanges, but have expanded contacts in finance, academia, and public diplomacy.
Iceland supported the PRC's accession to the United Nations in 1971, voting in favor ofUnited Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758 (XXVI), which transferred China's UN seat from Taipei to Beijing.[1]
Since the 1990s, Iceland and Taiwan have developed informal contact through trade bodies and parliamentary groups.
In October 1997, Taiwanese Vice PresidentLien Chan visited Iceland. During this trip, he held a meal meeting with Icelandic Prime MinisterDavíð Oddsson.[2]
In October 2004,Drifa Hjartardóttir, Chair of the Agriculture Committee of the Icelandic Parliament (Althing), visited Taiwan.[3]
In March 2005, a delegation of Icelandic parliamentarians visited Taiwan. The group includedSólveig Pétursdóttir, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee (who became Speaker of Parliament in August 2005),Gunnar Birgisson, Chair of the Education and Culture Committee, andGuðlaugur Þór Þórðarson, Chair of the Environment Committee.[4]
In August 2016, a Taiwaneseexchange student studying in Iceland had her nationality recorded as "China" rather than "Taiwan" when applying for aresidence permit.[5]Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs instructed theTaipei Representative Office in Denmark to provide assistance. After more than three months of negotiations, the registration was changed to "stateless".[6][7]
In May 2021, Iceland's Deputy Speaker of Parliament,Björn Leví Gunnarsson, along with 1,084 members of parliament from nearly 30 European countries, jointly wrote toWorld Health Organization (WHO) Director-GeneralTedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, supporting Taiwan's participation in WHO meetings, mechanisms, and activities at theWorld Health Assembly (WHA).[8][9][10]
Taiwan's government is represented in Iceland through theTaipei Representative Office in Denmark, which holds accreditation for Iceland,[11] while Iceland has no representative office in Taiwan.
Bilateral trade between Iceland and Taiwan is modest. According to The Observatory of Economic Complexity, in 2023, Taiwan exported US$33.2 million to Iceland, with products mainly involving broadcasting equipment, iron fasteners, and office machine parts; while Iceland exports to Taiwan amounted to US$35.9 million, with products mainly involving non-fillet frozen fish, industrial food preparation machinery, and processed fish. Over the 5 years to 2023, exports from Taiwan to Iceland have increased at an average annual rate of 3.58%, growing from US$27.9 million in 2018 to US$33.2 million in 2023; while exports from Iceland to Taiwan have increased at an average annual rate of 7.75%, growing from US$24.7 million in 2018 to UD$35.9 million in 2023.[12]
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