The 89-member delegation of the Czech Republic, headed by Czech Senate President Milos Vystrcil, on Friday evening departed Taiwan, ending their six-day visit.
Vystrcil met many liberal-minded and creative people during his stay, he said, adding that he hopes the visit would not only deepen ties between the Czech Republic and Taiwan, but also bring about investment opportunities for the two sides.
He looked forward to Taiwanese carriers starting direct flights between the nations and for Taiwan to export high-value-added products to the Czech Republic, he said.
Photo: Chu Pei-hsiung, Taipei Times
The nations agree on the importance of promoting freedom and democracy, Vystrcil said, adding that he enjoyed his stay in Taiwan.
Vystrcil and the delegation, which included eight Czech senators and Prague Mayor Zdenek Hrib, flew to Taiwan on Sunday last week for the landmark visit, despite strong condemnation from China.
During the visit, the group of representatives of Czech political, business, science and cultural sectors signed three memorandums of understanding with Taiwanese companies to enhance cooperation.
The visit also resulted in the Czech Republic allowing Taiwanese state-run banks to open branches in the country and China Airlines to operate direct flights there.
On Thursday, while meeting with Vystrcil, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said that the visit had been a fruitful one, and praised the delegation for making an important first step in breaking down barriers, even though the nations do not have official diplomatic ties.
Such an exchange tells “all our friends in Europe and around the world that friends upholding the same beliefs, regardless of whether they are Czech or Taiwanese, will not succumb to oppression and will continue to bravely ensure our voices are heard,” she said.
During his stay, Vystrcil also met several other top Taiwanese officials, and spoke at the Legislative Yuan and National Chengchi University in Taipei.
He on Tuesday received a Congressional Diplomacy Honorary Medal from the legislature, making him the first legislative head from a country with which Taiwan has no diplomatic relations to receive the recognition since it was created in 2007.
Taipei, New Taipei City, Keelung and Taoyuan would issue a decision at 8pm on whether to cancel work and school tomorrow due to forecasted heavy rain, Keelung Mayor Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑) said today. Hsieh told reporters that absent some pressing reason, the four northern cities would announce the decision jointly at 8pm. Keelung is expected to receive between 300mm and 490mm of rain in the period from 2pm today through 2pm tomorrow, Central Weather Administration data showed. Keelung City Government regulations stipulate that school and work can be canceled if rain totals in mountainous or low-elevation areas are forecast to exceed 350mm in
EVA Airways president Sun Chia-ming (孫嘉明) and other senior executives yesterday bowed in apology over the death of a flight attendant, saying the company has begun improving its health-reporting, review and work coordination mechanisms. “We promise to handle this matter with the utmost responsibility to ensure safer and healthier working conditions for all EVA Air employees,” Sun said. The flight attendant, a woman surnamed Sun (孫), died on Friday last week of undisclosed causes shortly after returning from a work assignment in Milan, Italy, the airline said. Chinese-language media reported that the woman fell ill working on a Taipei-to-Milan flight on Sept. 22
COUNTERMEASURE: Taiwan was to implement controls for 47 tech products bound for South Africa after the latter downgraded and renamed Taipei’s ‘de facto’ offices The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is still reviewing a new agreement proposed by the South African government last month to regulate the status of reciprocal representative offices, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. Asked about the latest developments in a year-long controversy over Taiwan’s de facto representative office in South Africa, Lin during a legislative session said that the ministry was consulting with legal experts on the proposed new agreement. While the new proposal offers Taiwan greater flexibility, the ministry does not find it acceptable, Lin said without elaborating. The ministry is still open to resuming retaliatory measures against South
1.4nm WAFERS: While TSMC is gearing up to expand its overseas production, it would also continue to invest in Taiwan, company chairman and CEO C.C. Wei said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) has applied for permission to construct a new plant in the Central Taiwan Science Park (中部科學園區), which it would use for the production of new high-speed wafers, the National Science and Technology Council said yesterday. The council, which supervises three major science parks in Taiwan, confirmed that the Central Taiwan Science Park Bureau had received an application on Friday from TSMC, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, to commence work on the new A14 fab. A14 technology, a 1.4 nanometer (nm) process, is designed to drive artificial intelligence transformation by enabling faster computing and greater power
RSS