Ms. Madeleine Majorenko, head of the European Economic and Trade Office in Taiwan, visited the Control Yuan on June 6, 2017. She was received by CY President Chang Po-ya, Vice President Sun Da-chuan and Deputy Secretary General Hsu Hai-chuan. During their meeting, Ms. Majorenko affirmed the Control Yuan’s important role and expressed the hope that it will be able to engage in deeper cooperation and exchanges with ombudsman organizations around the world. CY President Chang expressed delight upon learning that Ms. Majorenko comes from Sweden, which is where the idea of ombudsman in the West originated. While introducing the history of the Control Yuan, President Chang explained that the CY is a constitutional institution whose powers and functions, including handling citizens’ complaints against government, carrying out investigations, censuring, auditing, proposing corrective measures for government agencies and officials, and so on, are clearly laid out in the ROC Constitution. She noted that although there are differences between Western and Eastern ombudsman systems in terms of scope of authority and manner of exercising that authority, they both serve the indispensable role of alleviating popular grievances, protecting human rights, promoting good governance, and therefore ensuring the normal operations of a country. For her part, Ms. Majorenko expressed admiration at the Control Yuan’s substantive achievements and acknowledged the deep confidence the public has in the institution. She also praised the Control Yuan’s efforts in protecting human rights, stating that the CY fully complies with the Paris Principles’ requirements for a national human rights commission. Ms. Majorenko said she looks forward to more innovative and closer cooperation and exchanges between the Control Yuan and the Euro-Ombudsman as well as the ombudsman institutions of each of the countries of Europe, all of which are members of the International Ombudsman Institute.