A delegation from the German Bundestag’s Committee on Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid arrived in Taiwan yesterday on a four-day visit to discuss human rights issues with local officials and academics.
The delegation, led by German lawmaker Peter Heidt of the Free Democratic Party, was welcomed by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) and German Institute Taipei Director-General Jorg Polster at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport.
The delegation also includes German lawmakers Heike Engelhardt and Derya Turk-Nachbaur of the Social Democratic Party, Michael Brand and Carsten Brodesser of the Christian Democratic Union, and Boris Mijatovic from the Greens.
Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
The visit is the second by German lawmakers this month, following a seven-member delegation to Taipei from Oct. 2 to 6 headed by German-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group Chairman Klaus-Peter Willsch.
The human rights delegation is scheduled to meet President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) and National Human Rights Commission Chairperson Chen Chu (陳菊), the ministry said.
The delegation is to visit the National Human Rights Museum and discuss cooperation with local non-governmental organizations and think tanks, it added.
The trip is meant to learn firsthand about the “tense security situation” in Taiwan and to express the delegation’s stance that it would not accept “a larger neighbor attacking its smaller neighbor in violation of international law,” Heidt said in Berlin last week.
Germany must overcome its economic reliance on China, he added.
Heidt said that Taiwan is known for its economic prosperity and its chip production.
“No iPhone in the world would work without Taiwan’s [semiconductor] industry,” Heidt said. “In other words, Taiwan’s independence is also very important to us for economic reasons.”
Seven of the 17 NT$10 million (US$311,604) winning receipts from the November-December uniform invoice lottery remain unclaimed as of today, the Ministry of Finance said, urging winners to redeem their prizes by May 5. The reminder comes ahead of the release of the winning numbers for the January-February lottery tomorrow. Among the unclaimed receipts was one for a NT$173 phone bill in Keelung, while others were for a NT$5,913 purchase at Costco in Taipei's Neihu District (內湖), a NT$49 purchase at a FamilyMart in New Taipei City's Tamsui District (淡水), and a NT$500 purchase at a tea shop in New Taipei City's
Taiwanese officials were shown the first of 66 F-16V fighter jets purchased by Taiwan from the United States, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday, adding the aircraft has completed an initial flight test and is expected to be delivered later this year. A delegation led by Deputy Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) visited Lockheed Martin’s F-16 C/D Block 70 (also known as F-16V) assembly line in South Carolina on March 16 to view the aircraft. The jet will undergo a final acceptance flight in the US before being delivered to Taiwan, the
Deliveries of delayed F-16V jets are expected to begin in September, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said today, after senior defense officials visited the US last week. The US in 2019 approved a US$8 billion sale of Lockheed Martin F-16 jets to Taiwan, a deal that would take the nation’s F-16 fleet to more than 200 jets, but the project has been hit by issues including software problems. Koo appeared today before a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, which is discussing different versions of the special defense budget this week. The committee is questioning officials today,
TALENT SCOUTING: The university is investing substantial funds in its future to bring in the kind of researchers that would keep the college internationally competitive National Taiwan University (NTU) plans to invest NT$2 billion (US$62.6 million) to launch two programs aimed at attracting and retaining top research talent, university president Chen Wen-chang (陳文章) said yesterday. The funding would support the “Palm Grove Scholars Project,” which targets academics aged 40 to 55. Up to 20 scholars would be selected, each receiving as much as NT$10 million annually, Chen said. The initiative is designed to attract leading researchers to Taiwan and strengthen NTU’s global competitiveness by fostering a more research-friendly environment and expanding international collaboration, he said. NTU is also introducing a “Hong Hu” chair grant, which would provide Palm
RSS