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
NATIONAL SECURITY THREAT: An official said that Guan Guan’s comments had gone beyond the threshold of free speech, as she advocated for the destruction of the ROC China-born media influencer Guan Guan’s (關關) residency permit has been revoked for repeatedly posting pro-China content that threatens national security, the National Immigration Agency said yesterday. Guan Guan has said many controversial things in her videos posted to Douyin (抖音), including “the red flag will soon be painted all over Taiwan” and “Taiwan is an inseparable part of China,” while expressing hope for expedited “reunification.” The agency received multiple reports alleging that Guan Guan had advocated for armed reunification last year. After investigating, the agency last month issued a notice requiring her to appear and account for her actions. Guan Guan appeared as required,
A strong cold air mass is expected to arrive tonight, bringing a change in weather and a drop in temperature, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The coldest time would be early on Thursday morning, with temperatures in some areas dipping as low as 8°C, it said. Daytime highs yesterday were 22°C to 24°C in northern and eastern Taiwan, and about 25°C to 28°C in the central and southern regions, it said. However, nighttime lows would dip to about 15°C to 16°C in central and northern Taiwan as well as the northeast, and 17°C to 19°C elsewhere, it said. Tropical Storm Nokaen, currently
‘NATO-PLUS’: ‘Our strategic partners in the Indo-Pacific are facing increasing aggression by the Chinese Communist Party,’ US Representative Rob Wittman said The US House of Representatives on Monday released its version of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, which includes US$1.15 billion to support security cooperation with Taiwan. The omnibus act, covering US$1.2 trillion of spending, allocates US$1 billion for the Taiwan Security Cooperation Initiative, as well as US$150 million for the replacement of defense articles and reimbursement of defense services provided to Taiwan. The fund allocations were based on the US National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal 2026 that was passed by the US Congress last month and authorized up to US$1 billion to the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency in support of the
PAPERS, PLEASE: The gang exploited the high value of the passports, selling them at inflated prices to Chinese buyers, who would treat them as ‘invisibility cloaks’ The Yilan District Court has handed four members of a syndicate prison terms ranging from one year and two months to two years and two months for their involvement in a scheme to purchase Taiwanese passports and resell them abroad at a massive markup. A Chinese human smuggling syndicate purchased Taiwanese passports through local criminal networks, exploiting the passports’ visa-free travel privileges to turn a profit of more than 20 times the original price, the court said. Such criminal organizations enable people to impersonate Taiwanese when entering and exiting Taiwan and other countries, undermining social order and the credibility of the nation’s
RSS