August 23, 2015
No. 168
Senator and Vice President of the French Senate’s Taiwan Friendship Group Mr. Jean-Marie Bockel will, at the invitation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China (Taiwan), lead a six-person delegation to Taiwan from August 23 to 26, 2015. The delegation consists of members of both the French Senate and National Assembly.
The delegation will have an audience with President Ma Ying-jeou, and call on President of the Legislative Yuan’s ROC (Taiwan)-France Friendship Group Pan Wei-kang, Senior Advisor at the National Security Council Andrew Nien-dzu Yang, Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Cho Shih-chao, Deputy Mayor of Taipei City Chou Li-fang, Mayor of New Taipei City and Chairman of the Kuomintang Eric Li-luan Chu, and Secretary General of the Democratic Progressive Party Joseph Jau-shieh Wu. The delegation members will also call at the Mainland Affairs Council and visit the National Palace Museum, Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall, and Maokong. Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Vanessa Y. P. Shih will host a luncheon in their honor.
Mr. Jean-Marie Bockel, a former Minister for Commerce, previously visited Taiwan in 2011 and 2013. He is an important member of the Union of Democrats and Independents, a centrist French political party. Mrs. Sylvie Goy-Chavent, Mrs. Marie-Françoise Pérol-Dumont, and Mr. Jean-Luc Reitzer are members of the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Armed Forces Committee in either the French Senate or National Assembly, and Mr. Eric Straumann is a member of the Economic Affairs Committee in the National Assembly. While Mrs. Goy-Chavent has visited Taiwan three times before, this is the maiden trip to Taiwan for the other three MPs. The aim is to provide the delegation members with a better understanding of recent developments in Taiwan in terms of politics, the economy, and cross-strait relations, and to enhance bilateral ties and cooperation between Taiwan and France. (E)