A delegation of French senators is planning to visit Taiwan, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs confirmed on Monday, without providing any further details.
The ministry was responding to a report in French media that the delegation, to be led by French Senator Alain Richard, head of the French Senate’s Taiwan Friendship Group, would visit Taiwan from Oct. 4 to 11.
Other members of the delegation would include French senators Max Brisson and Andre Vallini, both vice presidents of the friendship group, as well as French Senator Olivier Cadic, the group’s secretary, French online media outlet La Lettre A reported.
Photo: AFP
The ministry did not confirm the dates of the visit, saying only that it welcomed the visit, but that related details were still being planned.
Taiwan’s representative office in Paris is working closely with Richard to make the arrangements, the ministry said in a statement.
The visit would have to comply with COVID-19 prevention and quarantine measures, and take the latest pandemic situation into consideration, the ministry said, without elaborating.
Under disease prevention regulations, all arrivals from overseas are required to undergo 14 days of quarantine.
Richard had wanted to visit Taiwan as early as March.
China expressed opposition to that trip in February in a letter to Richard from Chinese Ambassador to France Lu Shaye (盧沙野), which Paris criticized as Chinese interference in its institutions.
Richard is a long-term supporter of Taiwan, and the former French minister of defense has previously visited the nation in 2015 and 2018.
A promoter of Taiwan-France exchanges, Richard is also the initiator of a resolution adopted by the French Senate in May in support of Taiwan’s international participation.
In an interview with the Central News Agency in late March, Richard said the main purpose of the visit would be to see how Taiwan has dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic strides it has made, as well as to discuss regional and global strategies.
The manufacture of the remaining 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks Taiwan purchased from the US has recently been completed, and they are expected to be delivered within the next one to two months, a source said yesterday. The Ministry of National Defense is arranging cargo ships to transport the tanks to Taiwan as soon as possible, said the source, who is familiar with the matter. The estimated arrival time ranges from late this month to early next month, the source said. The 28 Abrams tanks make up the third and final batch of a total of 108 tanks, valued at about NT$40.5 billion
Two Taiwanese prosecutors were questioned by Chinese security personnel at their hotel during a trip to China’s Henan Province this month, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday. The officers had personal information on the prosecutors, including “when they were assigned to their posts, their work locations and job titles,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said. On top of asking about their agencies and positions, the officers also questioned the prosecutors about the Cross-Strait Joint Crime-Fighting and Judicial Mutual Assistance Agreement, a pact that serves as the framework for Taiwan-China cooperation on combating crime and providing judicial assistance, Liang
A group from the Taiwanese Designers in Australia association yesterday represented Taiwan at the Midsumma Pride March in Melbourne. The march, held in the St. Kilda suburb, is the city’s largest LGBTQIA+ parade and the flagship event of the annual Midsumma Festival. It attracted more than 45,000 spectators who supported the 400 groups and 10,000 marchers that participated this year, the association said. Taiwanese Designers said they organized a team to march for Taiwan this year, joining politicians, government agencies, professionals and community organizations in showing support for LGBTQIA+ people and diverse communities. As the first country in Asia to legalize same-sex
MOTIVES QUESTIONED The PLA considers Xi’s policies toward Taiwan to be driven by personal considerations rather than military assessment, the Epoch Times reports Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) latest purge of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) leadership might have been prompted by the military’s opposition to plans of invading Taiwan, the Epoch Times said. The Chinese military opposes waging war against Taiwan by a large consensus, putting it at odds with Xi’s vision, the Falun Gong-affiliated daily said in a report on Thursday, citing anonymous sources with insight into the PLA’s inner workings. The opposition is not the opinion of a few generals, but a widely shared view among the PLA cadre, the Epoch Times cited them as saying. “Chinese forces know full well that
RSS