Ireland, along with our EU partners, adheres to the One China Policy. This means that we recognise the People's Republic of China as the sole legal government of China and we do not have diplomatic relations with Taiwan. This has been the case since Ireland first established diplomatic relations with China in 1979. As such, my Department has never maintained a mission, institute or office in Taipei.
Ireland’s adherence to the One China Policy does not preclude the development of economic, trade, cultural, and people-to-people connections with Taiwan. Both IDA Ireland and Enterprise Ireland, the agency responsible for enterprise development, operate under the aegis of the Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, and decisions on the closure or opening of such offices do not fall within the remit of my Department.
However, my Department does engage regularly with these State Agencies to advance Ireland’s economic objectives abroad. Based on this engagement, it is my understanding that there are no current plans for Ireland to open an office in Taipei. IDA Ireland now manages the Taiwanese market from its Singapore office, and Enterprise Ireland manages the Taiwanese market from its office in Hong Kong. The opening of any new office is a resource intensive process, and, as such, decisions are evaluated based on several factors, including cost-benefit considerations and whether existing offices already adequately cover the work involved.
Central Statistics Office (CSO) data indicates that there is a significant amount of trading activity between Ireland and Taiwan. In 2024 – the latest year for which full statistics on goods and services are available – showed that the total value of trade between Ireland and Taiwan was €5.373 billion. In terms of goods, Ireland’s exports were valued at €373 million and imports were valued at €2.053 billion. In terms of services, Ireland’s exports were valued at €2.075 billion and imports were valued at €872 million. Overall, Ireland had a trade deficit of €477 million with Taiwan in 2024.
It is not possible to provide a figure for the total value of trade between Ireland and Taiwan for the most recent year as the data trade in services for 2025 is not yet available. However, the latest available data for 2025 in terms of goods shows that exports were valued at €458 million and imports were valued at €4.305 billion. In terms of understanding the scale of the trade in goods, I note that the largest commodity group for exports in 2025 was medicinal and pharmaceutical products (€183 million) and the largest commodity group for imports in 2025 was ‘office machines and automatic data processing equipment’ (€2.871 billion). CSO data indicates that imports in this particular commodity group have grown substantially in recent years (€472 million in 2023, €1.113 billion in in 2024 and €2.871 billion in 2025).
I am aware that some EU Member States have trade offices in Taipei. I note that the European Union established the European Economic and Trade Office in Taipei in 2003 to represent and strengthen the trading and economic links with Taiwan on behalf of all EU Member States, including Ireland. I note also that European Commission convenes a regular Trade and Investment Dialogue (TID) to discuss bilateral trade and investment matters with Taiwan on behalf of the EU. There are also number of Taipei representative offices throughout Europe, including one in Dublin since 1988.
