TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — After the start of summer recess for the current legislative session, the Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Yuan, Johnny Chiang (江啟臣), left with a delegation of Taiwanese lawmakers for Europe on Saturday (July 20) to kick off a diplomatic tour to multiple countries.
According to various media reports, Taiwanese lawmakers are set to visit the Czech Republic, Spain, Italy, Japan, and the United States over the next few weeks. The first stop will be the Czech Republic, following the founding of the Taiwan-Czech parliamentary friendship group, which held its inaugural meeting in Taipei on Thursday (July 18), per CNA.
Kuomintang (KMT) legislator Wan Mei-ling (萬美玲), in her role as head of the friendship group will lead parliamentary exchanges on issues related to trade, culture, education, media, and the overseas Taiwanese community in Europe. Wan says that the group will also discuss the possibility of displaying items from the National Palace Museum in the Czech Republic in the coming years, per CNA.
After several days in Prague, the delegation is expected to visit Madrid, Spain. A Taiwan-Spain parliamentary friendship was group also established at the same joint inaugural meeting with Czech lawmakers on Thursday.
Following the visit to Spain, Johnny Chiang and other lawmakers are planning to spend several days in Italy, according to the Italian media outlet Agenzia Nova. The report says they will arrive in Italy on July 27 and spend some time in both Milan and Rome, with Chiang expected to meet Italian lawmakers from both houses of the Italian Parliament.
After the delegation’s trip to Europe, Chiang is expected to return to Asia, where he will head a diplomatic visit to Kyushu, Japan with both KMT as well as Democratic Progressive Party lawmakers, set to arrive on August 2, per CNA. A friendly game of soccer has reportedly been scheduled between Taiwanese and Japanese lawmakers during the visit.
Later in August, Chiang has a trip scheduled for August 15 to the United States where he will give a speech at the annual meeting of the Taiwan Benevolent Association of America in Houston, Texas. While in Texas, Chiang is expected to meet with local lawmakers and government officials to discuss increasing bilateral cooperation and trade issues, per CNA.