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.
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