Taiwan will continue to play its role as a member of the international community and ensure regional peace and stability, President Tsai Ing-wen told a visiting delegation of French senators on Thursday amid escalating tensions with China.
The four senators, lead by former defence minister Alain Richard, arrived in Taiwan on Wednesday, despite the strong objections of China which views the island as its own territory and is always angered by visits of foreign officials.
Speaking to the senators at the presidential office, Tsai thanked France for its concern about the situation in the Taiwan Strait and support for its international participation. Richard, head of the French Senate's Taiwan Friendship Group, was the country's defence minister from 1997 to 2002 under President Jacques Chirac. Richard has visited Taiwan twice before, in 2015 and 2018.
In March, the Chinese embassy in Paris warned against lawmakers meeting Taiwanese officials, prompting a rebuff from the French foreign ministry, which said French senators are free to meet whomever they wish when they travel.The senators are not the only senior foreign visitors in Taiwan at the moment.Neither France nor Australia have formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan, like most countries.
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