A delegation led by Czech Chamber of Deputies Speaker Marketa Pekarova Adamova yesterday arrived for a five-day visit, which is expected to include the signing of a joint statement of legislative cooperation.
A signing ceremony for the statement — which would be the first the legislature has inked with the legislative body of a country with which Taiwan does not have official diplomatic ties — is expected to take place on Wednesday, sources said.
They added that Adamova is to address the legislature on Tuesday, which would also be the first time a female leader of a legislature of a country with no formal ties with Taiwan has done so.
Photo: CNA
The joint statement is to include an agreement to exchange administrative staff for training and formalize representative groups from the legislatures to visit each other, the sources said.
Based on the mutual recognition of the universal values of freedom, democracy and human rights, the legislatures would also agree to foster collaborations across multiple fields to deepen Taiwan-Czech relations and to uphold the principles of democratic countries remaining united and friendly with each other, the sources said.
In addition to maintaining cordial relations, both sides would pledge to work together on the economy, science, technology, culture and education.
The legislatures are to agree to share information in fields that would be mutually beneficial, and both countries would trade know-how on national budget issues and matters such as the use of innovative communication technologies, the sources said.
In addition to providing opportunities for administrative staff from the legislatures to participate in exchange programs to learn from each other, the legislatures are to establish regular or intermittent group visits by lawmakers.
Legislative Speaker You Si-kun and Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) greeted the delegation of nearly 150 members at Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport).
Presidential Office spokeswoman Kolas Yotaka yesterday said the government welcomes the delegation, adding that President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) would meet with them tomorrow afternoon to exchange opinions on trade and industry collaboration.
Yu is to accompany Adamova on four out of the five days to highlight the importance Taiwan attaches to the visit, a source said.
The delegation includes Czech Chamber of Deputies Committee of Foreign Affairs Chairman Marek Zenisek, Committee on Safety Chairman Pavel Zacek, Czech-Taiwan Friendship Group Chairman Marek Benda and lawmaker Ivan Jac, as well as Czech senators Marek Vyborny and Ondrej Lochman.
The delegation also includes other Czech senators, government officials and representatives from government agencies.
CLASH OF WORDS: While China’s foreign minister insisted the US play a constructive role with China, Rubio stressed Washington’s commitment to its allies in the region The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday affirmed and welcomed US Secretary of State Marco Rubio statements expressing the US’ “serious concern over China’s coercive actions against Taiwan” and aggressive behavior in the South China Sea, in a telephone call with his Chinese counterpart. The ministry in a news release yesterday also said that the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs had stated many fallacies about Taiwan in the call. “We solemnly emphasize again that our country and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinate to each other, and it has been an objective fact for a long time, as well as
‘CHARM OFFENSIVE’: Beijing has been sending senior Chinese officials to Okinawa as part of efforts to influence public opinion against the US, the ‘Telegraph’ reported Beijing is believed to be sowing divisions in Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture to better facilitate an invasion of Taiwan, British newspaper the Telegraph reported on Saturday. Less than 750km from Taiwan, Okinawa hosts nearly 30,000 US troops who would likely “play a pivotal role should Beijing order the invasion of Taiwan,” it wrote. To prevent US intervention in an invasion, China is carrying out a “silent invasion” of Okinawa by stoking the flames of discontent among locals toward the US presence in the prefecture, it said. Beijing is also allegedly funding separatists in the region, including Chosuke Yara, the head of the Ryukyu Independence
‘VERY SHALLOW’: The center of Saturday’s quake in Tainan’s Dongshan District hit at a depth of 7.7km, while yesterday’s in Nansai was at a depth of 8.1km, the CWA said Two magnitude 5.7 earthquakes that struck on Saturday night and yesterday morning were aftershocks triggered by a magnitude 6.4 quake on Tuesday last week, a seismologist said, adding that the epicenters of the aftershocks are moving westward. Saturday and yesterday’s earthquakes occurred as people were preparing for the Lunar New Year holiday this week. As of 10am yesterday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) recorded 110 aftershocks from last week’s main earthquake, including six magnitude 5 to 6 quakes and 32 magnitude 4 to 5 tremors. Seventy-one of the earthquakes were smaller than magnitude 4. Thirty-one of the aftershocks were felt nationwide, while 79
GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY: Taiwan must capitalize on the shock waves DeepSeek has sent through US markets to show it is a tech partner of Washington, a researcher said China’s reported breakthrough in artificial intelligence (AI) would prompt the US to seek a stronger alliance with Taiwan and Japan to secure its technological superiority, a Taiwanese researcher said yesterday. The launch of low-cost AI model DeepSeek (深度求索) on Monday sent US tech stocks tumbling, with chipmaker Nvidia Corp losing 16 percent of its value and the NASDAQ falling 612.46 points, or 3.07 percent, to close at 19,341.84 points. On the same day, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange Semiconductor Sector index dropped 488.7 points, or 9.15 percent, to close at 4,853.24 points. The launch of the Chinese chatbot proves that a competitor can
RSS