A delegation of French senators on Sunday departed Taiwan after concluding a five-day visit that included meetings with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and other high-level government officials.
The five-member delegation, which made no public statement before boarding their EVA Airways flight at 11:10pm, was seen off by Department of European Affairs Director-General Remus Chen (陳立國).
During the Wednesday-to-Sunday visit, the leader of the delegation, French Senator Alain Richard, was awarded a national medal in recognition of his contribution to the development of relations between his country and Taiwan.
Photo: Tony Yao, Taipei Times
Tsai conferred the Order of Propitious Clouds with Special Grand Cordon on Richard, the head of the French Senate’s Taiwan Friendship Group, at the Presidential Office on Thursday.
At the award ceremony, Tsai said that Richard had “pioneered” exchanges between Taiwan and France for many years, forging a path for the development of bilateral ties.
Members of the delegation also met with Premier Su Tseng-chang (蘇貞昌), Legislative Speaker You Si-kun (游錫堃), Control Yuan President Chen Chu (陳菊), Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) and other high-level government officials.
In addition to Richard, the delegation included French senators Max Brisson and Else Joseph, vice presidents of the Taiwan Friendship Group; Judith Bout, the group’s secretary; and Olivier Cadic, vice president of the French Senate’s Foreign Affairs, Defense and Armed Forces Committee.
Richard previously visited Taiwan in 2015 and 2018. When planning his third trip to Taiwan earlier this year, Chinese Ambassador to France Lu Shaye (盧沙野) expressed Beijing’s strong opposition to the visit.
The trip was delayed for months because of a COVID-19 outbreak in Taiwan in May.
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
Prosecutors today declined to say who was questioned regarding alleged forgery on petitions to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) legislators, after Chinese-language media earlier reported that members of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Youth League were brought in for questioning. The Ministry of Justice Investigation Bureau confirmed that two people had been questioned, but did not disclose any further information about the ongoing investigation. KMT Youth League members Lee Hsiao-liang (李孝亮) and Liu Szu-yin (劉思吟) — who are leading the effort to recall DPP caucus chief executive Rosalia Wu (吳思瑤) and Legislator Wu Pei-yi (吳沛憶) — both posted on Facebook saying: “I
The Ministry of Economic Affairs has fined Taobao NT$1.2 million (US$36,912) for advertisements that exceed its approved business scope, requiring the Chinese e-commerce platform to make corrections in the first half of this year or its license may be revoked. Lawmakers have called for stricter enforcement of Chinese e-commerce platforms and measures to prevent China from laundering its goods through Taiwan in response to US President Donald Trump’s heavy tariffs on China. The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee met today to discuss policies to prevent China from dumping goods in Taiwan, inviting government agencies to report. Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Kuo Kuo-wen (郭國文) said
Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), who led efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), was released on bail of NT$80,000 today amid outcry over his decision to wear a Nazi armband to questioning the night before. Sung arrived at the New Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office for questioning in a recall petition forgery case last night wearing a red armband bearing a swastika, carrying a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf and giving a Nazi salute. Sung left the building at 1:15am without the armband and covering the book with his coat. Lee said today that this is a serious
RSS