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 President Xi Jinping (習近平) is aware that Beijing’s treatment of Hong Kong has weakened any possible sentiment for a “one country, two systems” arrangement for Taiwan, and has instructed Chinese Communist Party (CCP) politburo member Wang Huning (王滬寧) to develop new ways of defining cross-strait relations, Japanese news magazine Nikkei Asia reported on Thursday. A former professor of international politics at Fu Dan University, Wang is expected to develop a dialogue that could serve as the foundation for cross-strait unification, and Xi plans to use the framework to support a fourth term as president, Nikkei Asia quoted an anonymous source
LUCKY DATE: The man picked the 10th ‘Super Red Envelope’ in a lottery store in Taoyuan’s Jhongli because he broke up with his girlfriend on Jan. 10 A man who recently broke up with his girlfriend won a NT$1 million (US$32,929) prize in the “NT$20 million Super Red Envelope” lottery after picking a card based on the date of their breakup, Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The man, in his 20s, bought the 10th ticket at a lottery store in Taoyuan’s Jhongli District (中壢), because he broke up with his girlfriend on Jan. 10, the store owner told the lottery company. The “Super Red Envelope” lottery was a limited offering by the company during the Lunar New Year holiday, which ended yesterday. The cards, which cost NT$2,000 each, came with
TOURISM BOOST: The transportation system could help attract more visitors to the area, as the line is to connect multiple cultural sites, a city councilor said Residents in New Taipei City’s Ankeng District (安坑) said the local light rail system might have a positive influence, but raised questions about its practicality. The Ankeng light rail system, which is to commence operations after the Lunar New Year holiday, would cut travel time for commuters from Ankeng to downtown Taipei or New Taipei City by 15 to 20 minutes, the city government said. According to the initial plan, there would be one train every 15 minutes during peak time and additional interval trains would run between the densely populated Ankang Station (安康) and Shisizhang Station (十 四張). To encourage people to
CHAMPION TREES: The team used light detection and ranging imaging to locate the tree, and found that it measured a height of 84.1m and had a girth of 8.5m A team committed to finding the tallest trees in the nation yesterday said that an 84.1m tall Taiwania cryptomerioides tree had been named the tallest tree in Taiwan and East Asia. The Taiwan Champion Trees, a team consisting of researchers from the Council of Agriculture’s Taiwan Forestry Research Institute and National Cheng Kung University (NCKU), in June last year used light detection and ranging (LiDAR) imaging to find the giant tree, numbered 55214, upstream of the Daan River (大安溪). A 20-member expedition team led by Rebecca Hsu (徐嘉君), an assistant researcher at the Taiwan Forestry Research Institute, set out to find the