Lawmakers from Japan, Canada, Germany and the UK are planning trips to Taiwan in the next few months to show support amid heightened Chinese intimidation following US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei earlier this month.
Next to visit from Monday to Wednesday next week is a delegation from Japan’s parliament, Kyodo News reported on Tuesday.
The group is to be led by Japanese Representative Keiji Furuya, chair of the Japan-ROC Diet Members’ Consultative Council and a member of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, Kyodo News reported, quoting multiple sources.
Photo: Reuters
They are expected to meet with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and defense officials to discuss improving defense systems in cooperation with the US, as well as Chinese military drills staged after Pelosi’s visit, it reported.
They are also expected to discuss sending a council delegation to attend Double Ten National Day celebrations on Oct. 10 and holding trilateral strategic dialogue with US lawmakers, it said.
Furuya previoulsy visited Taiwan in September 2020 to attend the funeral of former president Lee Teng-hui (李登輝).
Photo courtesy of Office of the President.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday welcomed the announced visit by the council, which sent a delegation annually until the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020.
Emphasizing the trip as a return to normalcy as border controls are eased, ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou (歐江安) told the Central News Agency that arrangements are still being made and details would be made public when ready.
Canadian lawmakers are planning a trip to Taiwan in October for what the delegation’s leader called a “necessary” visit.
The group of eight from the Canadian House of Commons Standing Committee on International Trade is to be led by the group’s chair, Judy Sgro of the Liberal Party, Canadian Broadcasting Corp (CBC) reported on Tuesday.
“The trade committee is very anxious to go and to visit Taiwan and see what opportunities there are for deeper trade relations between our two countries,” CBC quoted Sgro as saying.
Sgro, who chairs the Canada-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group, said that planning for the trip began last spring, but is still contingent on COVID-19 protocols.
“We need to protect other countries that have fought for their freedom and for their democracy,” she said. “So, yes, you know, I’m trying to be diplomatic in my comments, but clearly I’m proud that Canada is standing up to China as well, and I think that pushback is very important.”
The group, which had 89 members from both parliamentary chambers as of last year, previously sent a delegation to Taiwan in 2014.
Two separate delegations from Germany’s Bundestag are expected in October.
Six lawmakers of the Germany-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group are planning a visit during the first week of October, German lawmaker Holger Becker told visiting Taiwanese officials on Monday last week.
At the end of October, the Bundestag’s Committee on Human Rights is to send a delegation of eight lawmakers from six political parties to Taiwan as part of a larger Asia tour, German news agency DPA reported.
The committee had reportedly planned a visit in 2020 that was canceled due to the pandemic.
Earlier this month, the Guardian reported that the UK House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee is to send a delegation in November or early December.
If he is still chair of the committee after elections next month, British Member of Parliament Tom Tugendhat is expected to lead the trip, which was postponed from early this year after a member tested positive for COVID-19, it said.
Additional reporting by Lu Yi-hsuan
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
IDENTITY: Compared with other platforms, TikTok’s algorithm pushes a ‘disproportionately high ratio’ of pro-China content, a study has found Young Taiwanese are increasingly consuming Chinese content on TikTok, which is changing their views on identity and making them less resistant toward China, researchers and politicians were cited as saying by foreign media. Asked to suggest the best survival strategy for a small country facing a powerful neighbor, students at National Chia-Yi Girls’ Senior High School said “Taiwan must do everything to avoid provoking China into attacking it,” the Financial Times wrote on Friday. Young Taiwanese between the ages of 20 and 24 in the past were the group who most strongly espoused a Taiwanese identity, but that is no longer
A magnitude 6.4 earthquake and several aftershocks battered southern Taiwan early this morning, causing houses and roads to collapse and leaving dozens injured and 50 people isolated in their village. A total of 26 people were reported injured and sent to hospitals due to the earthquake as of late this morning, according to the latest Ministry of Health and Welfare figures. In Sising Village (西興) of Chiayi County's Dapu Township (大埔), the location of the quake's epicenter, severe damage was seen and roads entering the village were blocked, isolating about 50 villagers. Another eight people who were originally trapped inside buildings in Tainan
SHARED VALUES: The US, Taiwan and other allies hope to maintain the cross-strait ‘status quo’ to foster regional prosperity and growth, the former US vice president said Former US vice president Mike Pence yesterday vowed to continue to support US-Taiwan relations, and to defend the security and interests of both countries and the free world. At a meeting with President William Lai (賴清德) at the Presidential Office in Taipei, Pence said that the US and Taiwan enjoy strong and continued friendship based on the shared values of freedom, the rule of law and respect for human rights. Such foundations exceed limitations imposed by geography and culture, said Pence, who is visiting Taiwan for the first time. The US and Taiwan have shared interests, and Americans are increasingly concerned about China’s
RSS