The Legislative Yuan

Press Release

September 20, 2023

Vice President Tsai Chi-chang meets French Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defense and the Armed Forces Vice President Olivier Cadic

Accompanied by Deputy Secretary General Kao Ming-chiu, Department of International Affairs Director Kevin C.F. Lin and Secretary General Liu Tuo of the Department of European Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Vice President Tsai Chi-chang met French Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defense and the Armed Forces Vice President Olivier Cadic on the afternoon of September 20. 

In his remarks, Vice President Tsai first of all extended his sincere welcome to Vice President Cadic to Taiwan. He stated that in April this year, he along with 15 cross-party legislators visited France and was warmly received by Vice President Cadic. He took the same flight with Eric Bothorel, chair of the France-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group to return to Taiwan. It happened to be Vice President Tsai’s birthday. Chair Bothorel and legislators sang a French happy birthday song to him, which was an unforgettable and touching surprise. Then Senate Vice President Alain Richard, who is concurrently president of the France-Taiwan Parliamentary also visited Taiwan. All of these instances demonstrate that Taiwan and France enjoy the best moment of their relations.

Vice President Tsai continued to express his thanks to French National Assembly and Senate for passing the crucial bill of 2024-2030 LPM on July 12 and 13 respectively. As one of the important countries in the Indo-Pacific region, French defends freedom of navigation and underscores the importance to maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. The government and people of Taiwan are very grateful for that. In addition, Vice President Tsai expressed his respect to Vice President Cadic for his support for Taiwan and stressed the importance to maintain peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait to parliamentarians from more than 60 countries when he went to the UK to participate in the Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Forum from August 31 to September 1 this year.

Vice President Tsai pointed out that Taiwan shares values of democracy, freedom and human rights with France and will continue to deepen cooperation in technology. For example, the first domestically-produced Triton weather satellite, also known as the Wind-Hunter Satellite is set to launch with the French rocket Ariane in October. In addition, both sides are seeking more cooperation opportunities in semiconductor industry. Moreover, France is one of the favorite destinations of Taiwanese tourists. The Minister of Culture Shih Che will lead a delegation to France for exchanges. Taiwan and France can further strengthen cooperation in the fields of culture and tourism in the future.

In concluding his remarks, Vice President Tsai stated that democracy is the cornerstone for Taiwan and France to deepen exchanges. Both sides are facing the expansion of authoritarianism worldwide, including Russia-Ukraine war, China’s verbal attack and military intimidation against Taiwan. Only democratic countries strengthen solidarity, have faith in the power of democracy can we fight against the expansion of international authoritarianism and to further enhance the social development of mankind. He hoped that next time Vice President Cadic could stay longer to visit more places to enjoy the beauty of Formosa.

In his remarks, Vice President Cadic first of all thanked Vice President Tsai for his time to meet him and the delegation and his recognition of French Senate colleagues. He stressed that his faith in human rights and democracy is unquestionable. He believed that we should not be limited by the strategy against China. A better strategy is to strive not simply to fight.

He continued to state that France adopted a non-confront strategy, but to strive for the freedom of navigation in South China Sea and Taiwan Strait to obtain the goal of protecting peace and stability in Taiwan Strate. This is exactly the most important direction for amending the 2024-2030 LPM. This move enables France one of the most productive countries in defending Taiwan Strait even far more than that of the US. Secondly, he wanted to let all countries understand that freedom of navigation is closely related with the interest of other countries. Therefore, when he addressed in front of the participants of the UK Parliamentary Intelligence and Security Forum or in Penghu the previous day (19), he called on the world to be united to maintain the stability across the Taiwan Strait. The most important thing is not to defeat China but to prevent a war from happening.

He concluded by thanking the government of Taiwan for assisting ProLogium for investing in France with also half of the total investment of China in France over past 25 years. He hoped that the government of Taiwan will work together with the new director of France Office in Taipei to promote more investment. In terms of cultural exchanges. He stated that the development of the French School in Taipei established in September 2022 marked an important milestone for furthering bilateral relations. He hoped that the school will continue to develop, to make progress and to grow.