A group of French lawmakers landed in Taiwan yesterday, the first high-level European delegation since China conducted huge war drills in the wake of a visit to the nation by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
The trip came as Taiwan held two days of live-fire drills in Pingtung County.
Beijing has lashed out at any diplomatic action that might lend Taiwan legitimacy, and has responded with growing anger to visits by Western officials and politicians.
Photo: CNA
The group of five lawmakers is led by French Senator Cyril Pellevat, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said, adding that it was the fourth visit by French politicians in the past 12 months.
Last month, China sent warships, missiles and fighter jets into the waters and skies around Taiwan in a show of opposition to Pelosi’s presence — its largest and most aggressive exercises since the mid-1990s.
Pelosi, a veteran Beijing critic, was the most senior US politician to visit Taiwan in 25 years. She was followed by multiple separate US delegations last month.
Photo: Ritchie B. Tongo, EPA-EFE
China’s exercises triggered widespread support in the US for solidarity with Taiwan, which already has rare bipartisan support on Capitol Hill.
Many European powers have also grown more vocal in support of Taiwan in the past few years, while Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has deepened fears that China might do the same to Taiwan.
Politicians from European countries regularly visit the nation.
Beijing has adopted an increasingly bellicose approach to Taiwan under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), the country’s most authoritarian leader in a generation.
Xi, who is on the cusp of securing an unprecedented third term, has hitched Taiwan’s fate to his landmark “great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation” policy.
Like most nations, the US and France officially recognize Beijing over Taipei, but they remain key allies of Taiwan and maintain de facto diplomatic ties with the nation.
Washington’s official policy opposes Taiwan declaring independence and China forcibly changing the Taiwan’s status.
On Tuesday, Taiwanese troops carried out dramatic nighttime live-fire drills, with tanks illuminated by sudden flashes of flame as they fired shells while tracer rounds arced across the night sky.
“We will prepare for war, but will not seek war,” Huang Jing-feng, a battalion commander, told reporters. “We will carry on training to elevate each soldier’s combat skills.”
The drills continued yesterday, with tanks, combat helicopters and mobile missile launchers conducting firing exercises.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is pushing for residents of Kinmen and Lienchiang counties to acquire Chinese ID cards in a bid to “blur national identities,” a source said. The efforts are part of China’s promotion of a “Kinmen-Xiamen twin-city living sphere, including a cross-strait integration pilot zone in China’s Fujian Province,” the source said. “The CCP is already treating residents of these outlying islands as Chinese citizens. It has also intensified its ‘united front’ efforts and infiltration of those islands,” the source said. “There is increasing evidence of espionage in Kinmen, particularly of Taiwanese military personnel being recruited by the
Left-Handed Girl (左撇子女孩), a film by Taiwanese director Tsou Shih-ching (鄒時擎) and cowritten by Oscar-winning director Sean Baker, won the Gan Foundation Award for Distribution at the Cannes Critics’ Week on Wednesday. The award, which includes a 20,000 euro (US$22,656) prize, is intended to support the French release of a first or second feature film by a new director. According to Critics’ Week, the prize would go to the film’s French distributor, Le Pacte. "A melodrama full of twists and turns, Left-Handed Girl retraces the daily life of a single mother and her two daughters in Taipei, combining the irresistible charm of
ENTERTAINERS IN CHINA: Taiwanese generally back the government being firm on infiltration and ‘united front’ work,’ the Asia-Pacific Elite Interchange Association said Most people support the government probing Taiwanese entertainers for allegedly “amplifying” the Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda, a survey conducted by the Asia-Pacific Elite Interchange Association showed on Friday. Public support stood at 56.4 percent for action by the Mainland Affairs Council and the Ministry of Culture to enhance scrutiny on Taiwanese performers and artists who have developed careers in China while allegedly adhering to the narrative of Beijing’s propaganda that denigrates or harms Taiwanese sovereignty, the poll showed. Thirty-three percent did not support the action, it showed. The poll showed that 51.5 percent of respondents supported the government’s investigation into Taiwanese who have
A Philippine official has denied allegations of mistreatment of crew members during Philippine authorities’ boarding of a Taiwanese fishing vessel on Monday. Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) spokesman Nazario Briguera on Friday said that BFAR law enforcement officers “observed the proper boarding protocols” when they boarded the Taiwanese vessel Sheng Yu Feng (昇漁豐號) and towed it to Basco Port in the Philippines. Briguera’s comments came a day after the Taiwanese captain of the Sheng Yu Feng, Chen Tsung-tun (陳宗頓), held a news conference in Pingtung County and accused the Philippine authorities of mistreatment during the boarding of
RSS