President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday welcomed a delegation from the Czech Republic headed by Czech Senate Speaker Milos Vystrcil with an online message, saying that she looked forward to deepening cooperation with the European country.
Tsai’s welcome to the 89-member delegation followed its arrival earlier in the day on a direct charter flight from Prague.
The delegation, which includes eight Czech senators and Prague Mayor Zdenek Hrib, is to visit Taipei until Friday.
Photo: CNA
Tsai expressed the hope that the two nations would continue their efforts to deepen cooperation on issues related to epidemic control, trade and investment, tourism and travel, and international participation.
Vystrcil, the second-highest-ranking official of the Czech Republic after the country’s president, is his nation’s highest-level official ever to visit Taiwan.
The visit has been strongly condemned by China. However, Vystrcil said the Czech Republic would not bow to China’s objections, Reuters reported on Saturday.
Photo: Tony Yao, Taipei Times
During his stay, Vystrcil is to meet with Tsai and other top officials.
He is also scheduled to deliver speeches at National Chengchi University in Taipei today and at the Legislative Yuan tomorrow.
Vystrcil would also receive a Congressional Diplomacy Honorary Medal from the legislature tomorrow.
Some members of the delegation are to attend a Taiwan-Czech Republic economic, trade and investment forum scheduled for today in Taipei that is to focus on artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, the green economy and innovation, the Ministry of Economic Affairs has said.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) plans to make advanced 3-nanometer chips in Japan, stepping up its semiconductor manufacturing roadmap in the country in a triumph for Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s technology ambitions. TSMC is to adopt cutting-edge technology for its second wafer fab in Kumamoto, company chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said yesterday. That is an upgrade from an original blueprint to produce 7-nanometer chips by late next year, people familiar with the matter said. TSMC began mass production at its first plant in Japan’s Kumamoto in late 2024. Its second fab, which is still under construction, was originally focused on
DETERRENCE EFFORTS: Washington and partners hope demonstrations of force would convince Beijing that military action against Taiwan would carry high costs The US is considering using HMAS Stirling in Western Australia as a forward base to strengthen its naval posture in a potential conflict with China, particularly over Taiwan, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. As part of its Indo-Pacific strategy, Washington plans to deploy up to four nuclear-powered submarines at Stirling starting in 2027, providing a base near potential hot spots such as Taiwan and the South China Sea. The move also aims to enhance military integration with Pacific allies under the Australia-UK-US trilateral security partnership, the report said. Currently, US submarines operate from Guam, but the island could
CSBC Corp, Taiwan (台灣國際造船) yesterday released the first video documenting the submerged sea trials of Taiwan’s indigenous defense submarine prototype, the Hai Kun (海鯤), or Narwhal, showing underwater navigation and the launch of countermeasures. The footage shows the vessel’s first dive, steering and control system tests, and the raising and lowering of the periscope and antenna masts. It offered a rare look at the progress in the submarine’s sea acceptance tests. The Hai Kun carried out its first shallow-water diving trial late last month and has since completed four submerged tests, CSBC said. The newly released video compiles images recorded from Jan. 29 to
EMERGING FIELDS: The Chinese president said that the two countries would explore cooperation in green technology, the digital economy and artificial intelligence Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) yesterday called for an “equal and orderly multipolar world” in the face of “unilateral bullying,” in an apparent jab at the US. Xi was speaking during talks in Beijing with Uruguayan President Yamandu Orsi, the first South American leader to visit China since US special forces captured then-Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro last month — an operation that Beijing condemned as a violation of sovereignty. Orsi follows a slew of leaders to have visited China seeking to boost ties with the world’s second-largest economy to hedge against US President Donald Trump’s increasingly unpredictable administration. “The international situation is fraught