TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A four-member French parliamentary delegation arrived in Taiwan on Sunday (July 23) to kick off a five-day visit that will include meetings with political and business leaders.
Led by Senator André Gattolin, the French Senate’s vice president of foreign affairs and EU affairs and vice chair of the Defence Committee, the delegation will visit Vice President Lai Ching-te (賴清德), Legislative Speaker You Si-Kun (游錫堃), National Security Council Secretary-General Wellington Koo (顧立雄), Foreign Minister Joseph Wu (吳釗燮), and Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Chen Chern-chyi (陳正祺), according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Gattolin is expected to exchange views on human rights, regional security, and trade with Taiwan’s top officials. Other members of the delegation are Senator André Vallini, vice chair of the French Senate’s Taiwan Friendship Group, Étienne Blanc, and Annick Jacquemet.
The French delegation is also expected to meet with environment and labor ministers, as well as business leaders from the semiconductor and renewable energy industries. The trip marks Gattolin’s first visit to Taiwan and the third French parliamentary group to the country this year, the foreign ministry said.
Gattolin has been taking an active role in putting together several Taiwan-friendly bills and letters in the French Senate, including a bipartisan letter that supported Taiwan’s participation in the World Health Assembly. He has been outspoken about Chinese interference in Europe and Chinese military threats.
In a recent Politico opinion piece, Gattolin called for a unified European economic stance in response to the threat of Chinese economic coercion.
The first French delegation to Taiwan this year, which was led by Senator Alain Richard, chair of the Taiwan Friendship Group, in late April, came weeks after French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to China, and his comments that a Taiwan conflict did not have to do with Europe. Richard, during his visit, reaffirmed France’s support of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and the Indo-Pacific and opposition to any unilateral change to the status quo through force.
