A delegation of French lawmakers led by Francois de Rugy, chair of the French National Assembly’s France-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group, yesterday arrived in Taiwan for a five-day visit during which the group is to meet with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).
The group landed at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 8:36am, where they were greeted by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-kwang (田中光).
Upon arrival, De Rugy told reporters that he was happy to visit Taiwan, and hoped to discuss critical economic and cultural issues with Tsai and other officials.
Photo courtesy of the Taipei Representative Office in France
“We wish to have exchanges on all dimensions of the relations between Taiwan, the EU and France on the economy and culture and all the issues at stake for our countries,” he said.
The other members of the delegation are members of parliament Jean-Luc Reitzer, Frederique Dumas, Jean Francois Mbaye, Aina Kuric and Jean-Louis Bricout, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a news release on Tuesday.
Presidential Office spokesman Xavier Chang (張惇涵) on Tuesday said that Tsai would meet with the delegation today at the Presidential Office.
De Rugy’s visit comes less than three months after a five-member delegation from the French Senate visited Taiwan in early October, which reflected the strong friendship between Taiwan and France, as this is the first time two parliamentary delegations from the same European country had visited Taiwan within a few months, Chang said.
The group is also to meet with Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), Legislative Speaker You Si-kun (游錫堃), Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) and other senior government officials.
They are to exchange views on post-COVID-19 economic recovery, digital technology and security in the Indo-Pacific region, the ministry said.
De Rugy, a former president of the French National Assembly, is a long-time supporter of Taiwan, and has worked to improve relations between the two nations since he became president of the France-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group in May last year, it said.
The French National Assembly last month passed a resolution proposed by De Rugy calling on the French government to offer concrete support for Taiwan’s participation in world organizations, six months after the French Senate adopted a similar resolution, the ministry said.
In Beijing, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian (趙立堅) reiterated that “China firmly opposes any forms of official and political exchanges between Taiwan and countries having diplomatic ties with China.”
Zhao called on countries to “earnestly abide by the one China principle.”
In a commentary, the Chinese Communist Party tabloid Global Times called the visit “an insignificant stunt by trivial French politicians,” citing a Chinese expert.
Additional reporting by AP
The Ministry of the Interior (MOI) is to tighten rules for candidates running for public office, requiring them to declare that they do not hold a Chinese household registration or passport, and that they possess no other foreign citizenship. The requirement was set out in a draft amendment to the Enforcement Rules of the Public Officials Election and Recall Act (公職人員選舉罷免法 ) released by the ministry on Thursday. Under the proposal, candidates would need to make the declaration when submitting their registration forms, which would be published in the official election bulletin. The move follows the removal of several elected officials who were
FOUR DESIGNATED AREAS: Notices were issued for live-fire exercises in waters south and northwest of Penghu, northeast of Keelung and west of Kaohsiung, they said The military is planning three major annual exercises across the army, navy and air force this month, with the navy’s “Hai Chiang” (海強, “Sea Strong”) drills running from today through Friday, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday. The Hai Chiang exercise, which is to take place in waters surrounding Taiwan, would feature P-3C Orion maritime patrol aircraft and S-70C anti-submarine helicopters, the ministry said, adding that the drills aim to bolster the nation’s offshore defensive capabilities. China has intensified military and psychological pressure against Taiwan, repeatedly sending warplanes and vessels into areas near the nation’s air defense identification zone and across
FORCED LABOR: A US court listed three Taiwanese and nine firms based in Taiwan in its indictment, with eight of the companies registered at the same address Nine companies registered in Taiwan, as well as three Taiwanese, on Tuesday were named by the US Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) as Specially Designated Nationals (SDNs) as a result of a US federal court indictment. The indictment unsealed at the federal court in Brooklyn, New York, said that Chen Zhi (陳志), a dual Cambodian-British national, is being indicted for fraud conspiracy, money laundering and overseeing Prince Holding Group’s forced-labor scam camps in Cambodia. At its peak, the company allegedly made US$30 million per day, court documents showed. The US government has seized Chen’s noncustodial wallet, which contains
SENATE RECOMMENDATION: The National Defense Authorization Act encourages the US secretary of defense to invite Taiwan’s navy to participate in the exercises in Hawaii The US Senate on Thursday last week passed the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2026, which strongly encourages the US secretary of defense to invite Taiwan’s naval forces to participate in the Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercise, as well as allocating military aid of US$1 billion for Taiwan. The bill, which authorizes appropriations for the military activities of the US Department of Defense, military construction and other purposes, passed with 77 votes in support and 20 against. While the NDAA authorizes about US$925 billion of defense spending, the Central News Agency yesterday reported that an aide of US
RSS