Legislative Speaker You Si-kun (游錫堃) yesterday hailed the Czech Republic as a “Mecca of democracy” upon arrival in Prague, where Czech Senate President Milos Vystrcil greeted the visiting Taiwanese delegation.
A cross-party delegation of lawmakers arrived at Vaclav Havel Airport in Prague at 9am on a Turkish Airlines flight.
You and Vystrcil embraced when they saw each other for the first time since Vystrcil visited Taiwan in September 2020 as the head of an 89-member delegation.
Photo: AFP
Speaking at a news conference immediately after their meeting, You said he is “at long last” visiting the Czech Republic as a pilgrim of sorts to the “Mecca of democracy.”
Hailing the Prague Spring of 1968 and the Velvet Revolution of 1989 as movements still widely celebrated, You praised the unyielding spirit of the Czech people in their struggles for freedom.
The Taiwanese delegation is visiting in the hope of promoting friendship and parliamentary exchanges between the two nations, as well as deepening their cultural, technological and economic ties, You wrote on Facebook.
Another important goal is to thank Vystrcil for his 2020 visit, when he became the first parliamentary leader of a non-diplomatic ally to address the Legislative Yuan, he said.
“Vystrcil’s moving ‘I am Taiwanese’ speech not only deepened the friendship between our two nations, but also led Europe and the world to better understand Taiwan,” he added.
You and fellow legislators Jang Chyi-lu (張其祿) of the Taiwan People’s Party; Yosi Takun and Wan Mei-ling (萬美玲) of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT); and Huang Shih-chieh (黃世杰) of the Democratic Progressive Party are in the Czech Republic until Thursday.
They later yesterday were to pay their respects to late Czech president Vaclav Havel by presenting bouquets at his grave.
The delegation tomorrow is scheduled to meet with Vystrcil, three Czech Senate vice presidents and other senate officials, the Czech Senate said.
After the meeting, they are to pay their respects to former Czech Senate president Jaroslav Kubera, who served from 2018 until his death in January 2020, a month before he was scheduled to visit Taiwan.
You and Vystrcil are to hold a news conference tomorrow before the delegation departs on Thursday.
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
Both sides of the Taiwan Strait share a political foundation based on the “1992 consensus” and opposition to Taiwanese independence, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) today said during her meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). Both sides of the Strait should plan and build institutionalized and sustainable mechanisms for dialogue and cooperation based on that foundation to make peaceful development across the Strait irreversible, she said. Peace is a shared moral value across the Strait, and both sides should move beyond political confrontation to seek institutionalized solutions to prevent war, she said. Mutually beneficial cross-strait relations are what the
ECONOMIC COERCION: Such actions are often inconsistently applied, sometimes resumed, and sometimes just halted, the Presidential Office spokeswoman said The government backs healthy and orderly cross-strait exchanges, but such arrangements should not be made with political conditions attached and never be used as leverage for political maneuvering or partisan agendas, Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks after China earlier in the day announced 10 new “incentive measures” for Taiwan, following a landmark meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) in Beijing on Friday. The measures, unveiled by China’s Xinhua news agency, include plans to resume individual travel by residents of Shanghai and China’s Fujian
RSS