Czech Senator Jiri Drahos is to lead a 14-member delegation on a six-day visit to Taiwan from tomorrow, a trip he said is aimed at boosting cooperation with Taiwan’s semiconductor industry.
Drahos, 73, a former head of the Czech Academy of Sciences who ran in the 2018 Czech presidential election as an independent and was narrowly defeated by incumbent Milos Zeman, is chairman of the Czech Senate’s Committee on Education, Science, Culture, Human Rights and Petitions.
The delegation is to comprise Czech Academy of Sciences president Eva Zazimalova; Michal Lukes, general director of the National Museum in Prague; Roman Hvezda, director of the ELI Beamlines facility, an international laser research center; and officials from the fields of education, and science and technology, as well as experts in epidemic prevention and information security.
Drahos said the administration of Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala, who took office at the end of last year, paid special attention to democracy and human rights.
Drahos said that he was looking forward to strengthening cooperation with Taiwan in epidemic prevention, semiconductors, museums and other areas.
Cross-strait tensions have caused widespread concern in political circles in Europe that Taiwan might face an attack similar to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he said.
Although European countries might not be able to supply arms to Taiwan, there was a consensus on furthering relations with Taiwan in the areas of soft power such as culture, research and academics to improve Taiwan’s international visibility, he added.
China should know that the “democratic world” stands with Taiwan, he said.
However, as Chinese leaders are “relatively pragmatic,” they would not wage a war against Taiwan, in contrast to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who ordered the invasion of Ukraine in February, bringing devastating consequences to himself and others, Drahos said.
Amid warming ties with Prague, the Ministry of Culture is planning to in January next year set up a cultural division in Taiwan’s representative office there, to promote exchanges between the two countries.
The National Museum in Prague would also explore the possibility of cooperating with Taiwanese counterparts during the upcoming trip, Drahos said.
Prague is looking forward to seeing Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co, the world’s largest contract chipmaker, invest in the Czech Republic, he said.
Drahos said he was looking to work with Taiwan to establish a cooperation platform on semiconductor research and development.
Drahos came to Taiwan for the first time in the 1990s when he attended an academic conference at National Taiwan University. Since then, he has regularly invited Taiwanese academics to attend conferences in Prague to promote exchanges between the two countries.
The Czech senator originally planned to visit Taiwan in October 2020, but postponed the trip amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫), spokeswoman Yang Chih-yu (楊智伃) and Legislator Hsieh Lung-chieh (謝龍介) would be summoned by police for questioning for leading an illegal assembly on Thursday evening last week, Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) said today. The three KMT officials led an assembly outside the Taipei City Prosecutors’ Office, a restricted area where public assembly is not allowed, protesting the questioning of several KMT staff and searches of KMT headquarters and offices in a recall petition forgery case. Chu, Yang and Hsieh are all suspected of contravening the Assembly and Parade Act (集會遊行法) by holding
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
Taiwan would welcome the return of Honduras as a diplomatic ally if its next president decides to make such a move, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) said yesterday. “Of course, we would welcome Honduras if they want to restore diplomatic ties with Taiwan after their elections,” Lin said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, when asked to comment on statements made by two of the three Honduran presidential candidates during the presidential campaign in the Central American country. Taiwan is paying close attention to the region as a whole in the wake of a
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS