Several lawmakers held a ceremony in the Legislative Yuan on Friday to mark the inauguration of six parliamentary friendship groups to promote closer exchanges with European countries.
The aim of setting up the groups is to help boost Taiwan’s international participation, lawmakers said.
The groups include the Taiwanese parliamentary group working on WTO diplomacy, the Taiwan-
Photo: Yang Cheng-yu, Taipei Times
Switzerland Parliamentary Friendship Association, the Taiwan-Germany Parliamentary Friendship Group and the Taiwan-Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg Parliamentary Friendship Association.
The Dutch parliament and the Belgian parliament’s Chamber of Representatives have passed resolutions in support of Taiwan in recent years, while Luxembourg has also voiced support for Taiwan participating in the WHO, Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislator Lin I-chin (林宜瑾) said.
In addition, Switzerland’s lower house passed a resolution in May last year to “strengthen cooperation with the Taiwanese Legislative Yuan,” demonstrating the support of European countries for Taiwan’s international participation and cooperation, Lin said.
Taiwan not only has to seek out economic opportunities, but also strengthen democracy and human rights to boost ties with democratic countries worldwide, Lin said.
Meanwhile, DPP legislator Fan Yun (范雲), who chairs the Taiwan Parliamentary Human Rights Commission, pledged to strengthen international connections and build an alliance against China based on human rights.
She said she also established the Taiwan-Europe Social Democratic and Anti-Authoritarian Countries Parliamentary Friendship Network.
DPP Legislator Chang Hung-lu (張宏陸), who was re-elected chairman of the Taiwan-Germany Parliamentary Friendship Group, highlighted the shared values of democracy and freedom between the two countries.
German Institute Taipei Director-General Jorg Polster welcomed the establishment of parliamentary friendship associations, saying that he was looking forward to accompanying a German parliamentary delegation at this year’s presidential inauguration ceremony in Taiwan.
An essay competition jointly organized by a local writing society and a publisher affiliated with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) might have contravened the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said on Thursday. “In this case, the partner organization is clearly an agency under the CCP’s Fujian Provincial Committee,” MAC Deputy Minister and spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) said at a news briefing in Taipei. “It also involves bringing Taiwanese students to China with all-expenses-paid arrangements to attend award ceremonies and camps,” Liang said. Those two “characteristics” are typically sufficient
A magnitude 5.9 earthquake that struck about 33km off the coast of Hualien City was the "main shock" in a series of quakes in the area, with aftershocks expected over the next three days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Prior to the magnitude 5.9 quake shaking most of Taiwan at 6:53pm yesterday, six other earthquakes stronger than a magnitude of 4, starting with a magnitude 5.5 quake at 6:09pm, occurred in the area. CWA Seismological Center Director Wu Chien-fu (吳健富) confirmed that the quakes were all part of the same series and that the magnitude 5.5 temblor was
The brilliant blue waters, thick foliage and bucolic atmosphere on this seemingly idyllic archipelago deep in the Pacific Ocean belie the key role it now plays in a titanic geopolitical struggle. Palau is again on the front line as China, and the US and its allies prepare their forces in an intensifying contest for control over the Asia-Pacific region. The democratic nation of just 17,000 people hosts US-controlled airstrips and soon-to-be-completed radar installations that the US military describes as “critical” to monitoring vast swathes of water and airspace. It is also a key piece of the second island chain, a string of
The Central Weather Administration has issued a heat alert for southeastern Taiwan, warning of temperatures as high as 36°C today, while alerting some coastal areas of strong winds later in the day. Kaohsiung’s Neimen District (內門) and Pingtung County’s Neipu Township (內埔) are under an orange heat alert, which warns of temperatures as high as 36°C for three consecutive days, the CWA said, citing southwest winds. The heat would also extend to Tainan’s Nansi (楠西) and Yujing (玉井) districts, as well as Pingtung’s Gaoshu (高樹), Yanpu (鹽埔) and Majia (瑪家) townships, it said, forecasting highs of up to 36°C in those areas
RSS