Legislative Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜) today led a cross-party delegation to Japan to promote parliamentary diplomacy.
The 12-member delegation is expected to meet with members of the Japan-ROC Diet Members' Consultative Council and visit Expo 2025 in Osaka.
Before leaving Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) this morning, Han told reporters that the aim of the visit is to promote parliamentary exchanges between the two countries, as the Legislative Yuan has received multiple invitations from the council.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
The visit was not possible earlier due to an intense political atmosphere and mass recall campaigns, Han said.
As legislative speaker and president of the Taiwan-Japan Friendship Association, he invited lawmakers from the ruling party and opposition parties to join the trip, he said.
Thanking all three major party caucuses for working together in the area of diplomacy, Han said that he hopes for a fruitful trip and a long-lasting friendship between Taiwan and Japan.
The delegation would cheer on the Taiwan Pavilion at Expo 2025 and learn from other countries, as the event is nearing its close, Han said.
The delegation is also expected to meet with Taiwanese living in Tokyo and Osaka, he added.
The delegation includes the vice presidents of the Taiwan-Japan Friendship Association, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Hung Mong-kai (洪孟楷) and Taiwan People's Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊), as well as KMT legislators Hsu Yu-chen (許宇甄), Wang Hung-wei (王鴻薇), Weng Hsiao-ling (翁曉玲) and Lin Chien-chi (林倩綺), and Democratic Progressive Party legislators Ho Hsin-chun (何欣純), Wang Mei-hui (王美惠), Kuo Yu-ching (郭昱晴), Chuang Jui-hsiung (莊瑞雄) and Chen Ying (陳瑩).
Kenting National Park service technician Yang Jien-fon (楊政峰) won a silver award in World Grand Prix Photography Awards Spring Season for his photograph of two male rat snakes intertwined in combat. Yang’s colleagues at Kenting National Park said he is a master of nature photography who has been held back by his job in civil service. The awards accept entries in all four seasons across six categories: architectural and urban photography, black-and-white and fine art photography, commercial and fashion photography, documentary and people photography, nature and experimental photography, and mobile photography. Awards are ranked according to scores and divided into platinum, gold and
More than half of the bamboo vipers captured in Tainan in the past few years were found in the city’s Sinhua District (新化), while other districts had smaller catches or none at all. Every year, Tainan captures about 6,000 snakes which have made their way into people’s homes. Of the six major venomous snakes in Taiwan, the cobra, the many-banded krait, the brown-spotted pit viper and the bamboo viper are the most frequently captured. The high concentration of bamboo vipers captured in Sinhua District is puzzling. Tainan Agriculture Bureau Forestry and Nature Conservation Division head Chu Chien-ming (朱健明) earlier this week said that the
BREACH OF CONTRACT: The bus operators would seek compensation and have demanded that the manufacturer replace the chips with ones that meet regulations Two bus operators found to be using buses with China-made chips are to demand that the original manufacturers replace the systems and provide compensation for breach of contract, the Veterans Affairs Council said yesterday. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) yesterday said that Da Nan Bus Co and Shin-Shin Bus Co Ltd have fielded a total of 82 buses that are using Chinese chips. The bus models were made by Tron-E, while the systems provider was CYE Electronics, Lin said. Lin alleged that the buses were using chips manufactured by Huawei subsidiary HiSilicon Co, which presents a national security risk if the
The National Immigration Agency has banned two Chinese from returning to Taiwan, after they published social media content it described as disrespectful to national sovereignty. The agency imposed a two-month ban on a Chinese man surnamed Liang (梁) and a permanent ban on a woman surnamed Yang (楊), an influencer with 23 million followers, in October last year and last week respectively. Minister of the Interior Liu Shyh-fang (劉世芳) yesterday said on the sidelines of a legislative meeting that Chinese visitors to Taiwan are required to comply with the rules and regulations governing their entry permits. The government has handled the ban and
RSS