December 3, 2014
No. 268
French National Assembly member Hervé Morin, Chairman of the New Center party and former Minister of Defense, led a delegation visiting Taiwan November 30 to December 3, at the invitation of the government of the Republic of China. The other members of the delegation were Yvan Lachaud, Chairman of the Agglomeration Community of Nîmes Métropole; Emmanuel Dupuy, President of the Institute for European Perspective and Security; and Claude Leblanc, a journalist covering Asian affairs for L’Opinion.
While in Taiwan, Morin and his delegation had an audience with President Ma Ying-jeou. They also called at the Legislative Yuan, the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the New Taipei City Government, the Kuomintang party, the Democratic Progressive Party, the Straits Exchange Foundation, and the Chung-Shan Institute of Science and Technology. Moreover, the delegation visited various places of interest such as the National Palace Museum and Taipei 101. Vanessa Y. P. Shih, Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Wang Hsi-mong, Executive Vice President of the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA) hosted banquets in honor of the delegation.
Morin is a leading figure in French center-right politics. He is a member of the Taiwan Friendship group in the National Assembly and actively promotes bilateral relations between Taiwan and France. The four members of the delegation all visited Taiwan for the first time, and this trip provided them with an opportunity to gain a better understanding of the latest political and economic developments in the country, as well as the current state of cross-strait relations, strengthening cooperative ties between Taiwan and France.
Furthermore, 13 business representatives from Morin’s constituency in Normandy traveled with the delegation for consultations in Taiwan to further enhance bilateral economic and trade exchanges. (E)