22/02/2001 (Agence Europe) - British Liberal Democrat Watson, Chair of the European Parliament Committee on Citizens' Freedoms, said after a meeting with the President of Taiwan, Chen Shui-Bai, that "it is increasingly anomalous that the EU maintains diplomatic relations with a brutal communist dictatorship in Beijing, yet fails to recognise a flourishing democracy of 23 million people in Taiwan". Mr Watson, who was in Taipei accompanied by MEPs Marieke Sanders, Ole Andreasen, Ward Beysen, Toine Manders and Bob van den Bos, noted that the appointment of Deputy Foreign Minister David T.W. Lee as the new representative for Taiwan with the EU confirms the desire expressed by President Chen to have closer relations with the Union. The Commission should react immediately by opening an office in Taipei, said Mr Watson.