Two new groups were formed yesterday to promote parliamentary ties between Taiwan and the UK and France.
The "Taiwan-Britain Inter-Parliamentary Amity Association" (
"Through these associations, we hope to enhance mutual understanding as well as strengthen our bilateral parliamentary interactions with parliamentarians in UK and France," Chang said yesterday at the inauguration of the two associations.
PHOTO: LIU HSING-TEH, TAIPEI TIMES
Chang said that parliamentary diplomatic work carry out by the two groups could also help to broaden Taiwan's diplomatic circle.
"Because we [legislators] can visit countries, places and meet with certain persons in other countries that normally our national leaders are restricted from owing to Taiwan's unique situa-tion," Chang said.
The lawmaker said approximately 30 legislators from across party lines have said they would become members.
KMT Legislator Tsai Chia-fu (蔡家福) is deputy chairman for the "Taiwan-Britain Inter-Parliamentary Amity Association" while the TSU's John Wang (王政中) and PFP's Lin Teh-fu (林德福) are deputy chairmen of the "Taiwan-France Inter-Parliamentary Amity Association."
Chang, convener of the legislature's Foreign and Overseas Chi-nese Committee, said that the groups would focus on activities that serve the purpose in promoting mutual interaction between legislators in Taiwan and the two European countries.
"For example," Chang said, "we will work to coordinate Taiwanese business or cultural groups going to the UK and France for visits as well as invite influential British and French figures and parliamentarians to Taiwan to take part in seminars, public hearings to help improve general understanding and interaction."
Chang said association mem-bers are planning to travel to the UK and France during the next legislature recess in January.
Johanne Liou (劉喬安), a Taiwanese woman who shot to unwanted fame during the Sunflower movement protests in 2014, was arrested in Boston last month amid US President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigrants, the Criminal Investigation Bureau (CIB) said yesterday. The arrest of Liou was first made public on the official Web site of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Tuesday. ICE said Liou was apprehended for overstaying her visa. The Boston Field Office’s Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) had arrested Liou, a “fugitive, criminal alien wanted for embezzlement, fraud and drug crimes in Taiwan,” ICE said. Liou was taken into custody
ON PAROLE: The 73-year-old suspect has a criminal record of rape committed when he was serving in the military, as well as robbery and theft, police said The Kaohsiung District Court yesterday approved the detention of a 73-year-old man for allegedly murdering three women. The suspect, surnamed Chang (張), was arrested on Wednesday evening in connection with the death of a 71-year-old woman surnamed Chao (趙). The Kaohsiung City Police Department yesterday also unveiled the identities of two other possible victims in the serial killing case, a 75-year-old woman surnamed Huang (黃), the suspect’s sister-in-law, and a 75-year-old woman surnamed Chang (張), who is not related to the suspect. The case came to light when Chao disappeared after taking the suspect back to his residence on Sunday. Police, upon reviewing CCTV
TAIWAN ADVOCATES: The resolution, which called for the recognition of Taiwan as a country and normalized relations, was supported by 22 Republican representatives Two US representatives on Thursday reintroduced a resolution calling for the US to end its “one China” policy, resume formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan and negotiate a bilateral Taiwan-US free trade agreement. Republican US representatives Tom Tiffany of Wisconsin’s 7th Congressional District and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania’s 10th District were backed by 22 Republican members of the US House of Representatives. The two congressmen first introduced the resolution together in 2021. The resolution called on US President Donald Trump to “abandon the antiquated ‘one China’ policy in favor of a policy that recognizes the objective reality that Taiwan is an independent country, not
The US-Japan joint statement released on Friday not mentioning the “one China” policy might be a sign that US President Donald Trump intends to decouple US-China relations from Taiwan, a Taiwanese academic said. Following Trump’s meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Friday, the US and Japan issued a joint statement where they reaffirmed the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and support for Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations. Trump has not personally brought up the “one China” policy in more than a year, National Taiwan University Department of Political Science Associate Professor Chen Shih-min (陳世民)