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A group of parliamentarians will travel to Taiwan in February – including SP National Councilor Fabian Molina.
Five Swiss National Councilors are traveling to Taiwan in February. You belong to the Swiss-Taiwan parliamentary group. Co-President Fabian Molina (32) says it is a “sign of support for democracy in Taiwan”.
The Zurich SP National Council confirmed a report from “NZZ am Sonntag” on request. Meetings with members of the government and parliament are on the agenda. The group wants to get an idea of existing or possible future cooperations. But the program is not finished yet.
Meeting with President?
In addition to Molina, the second of the three co-presidents of the Taiwan Group, Nicolas Walder (56, Greens), as well as Mustafa Atici (53, SP), Léonore Porchet (33, Greens) and Yves Nidegger (65, SVP) are traveling to Taiwan.
The third co-president, Councilor of States Marco Chiesa (48, SVP), is not there. The Swiss-Taiwan parliamentary group comprises more than 30 members of parliament.
The group also wants to meet Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen, 66, but Molina said it’s unclear if that will work. The trip is scheduled to last from February 5th to 10th.
Molina says he has not yet received a reaction from China, which sees the island of Taiwan as part of the People’s Republic of China. But the travel plans have only just become public.
When the President visits: This is where Taiwan’s armed forces practice fighting the Chinese(01:13)
China has in the past reacted angrily to visits by foreign parliamentary delegations to Taiwan. For example, Beijing protested in October when German parliamentarians flew to the island.
Chinese react
In the “NZZ am Sonntag”, the Chinese embassy takes a two-sided “point of view”. The text was worded in a friendly manner, but contained sharp warnings, the newspaper said. Accordingly, China hopes that the Swiss parliamentarians will “priority to maintaining peace across the Taiwan Strait”, “refrain from any form of official contact with the authorities in Taiwan” and “not send false signals to the separatists”, as stated in the means to write.
According to Molina, the travel plans were not controversial in the Swiss-Taiwan parliamentary group. There are many so-called friendship groups such as the Swiss-Taiwan parliamentary group in Bern. Members of Parliament pay for the flight to Taiwan and hotel accommodation themselves. (SDA/rus)