The Legislative Yuan yesterday inaugurated a parliamentary friendship group with the Czech Republic and Austria, and announced that the National Palace Museum might exhibit in the Czech Republic next year.
The Republic of China-Czech and Austrian Parliamentary Amity Association was initiated by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Wan Mei-ling (萬美玲), who is to also serve as chair.
The group is to also have 11 vice chairs from across party lines, with an initial membership of about 50 legislators.
Photo: CNA
At the inaugural ceremony, Wan said that hopefully through bipartisan support, the friendship between Taiwan and the two European countries would continue to grow.
If all goes according to plan, there is a “very good chance” that the National Palace Museum would exhibit works from its collection at a museum in the Czech Republic next year, she added, without naming the Czech museum.
Deputy Speaker Johnny Chiang (江啟臣), representing Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), said that he hoped the speaker would have an opportunity to visit the two countries.
Parliamentary diplomacy is one of the legislature’s duties, Chiang said, adding that he hopes such exchanges would continue to expand.
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Tien Chung-kwang (田中光) thanked the legislature on behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Legislative Yuan has always maintained close ties with parliaments in Europe and is an indispensable force in furthering bilateral relations, he said.
The group would help the ministry continue to deepen substantive exchanges with the Czech Republic and Austria, and further enrich the nation’s friendships in Europe, he added.
Taiwan-Czech relations are steadily developing, helping each side to move forward, Czech Economic and Cultural Office in Taipei head David Steinke told the event.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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