Five French Lawmakers Visiting Taiwan, Reports Say

BEIJING (Sputnik) - A delegation of five French lawmakers has arrived in Taiwan on Wednesday for a six-day visit, Taiwanese media reported.

The delegation is headed by Senator Cyril Pellevat, the vice president of the French Senate’s European Affairs Committee, Taiwanese news agency CNA said. The delegation will stay in Taiwan until September 12 to meet with Vice President Lai Ching-te, Legislative Speaker You Si-kun and other officials.

This is not the first visit of French lawmakers to Taiwan this year. In June, a delegation of five French senators headed by the Secretary of the French Senate and the Vice-Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defense and the Armed Forces Joel Guerriau visited the island.

The situation around Taiwan escalated after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited the island in early August. China condemned Pelosi's trip, which it regarded as a gesture of support for separatism, and launched large-scale military exercises in the vicinity of the island. After Pelosi’s visit, three more US delegations arrived in Taiwan in just one month.

Taiwan became alienated from Beijing after becoming a stronghold of the Chinese Nationalist Party (the Kuomintang) that suffered defeat to the Communist Party in a civil war in 1949. The Chinese mainland and the island resumed business and informal contacts in the late 1980s. Beijing opposes any official contacts of foreign countries with Taiwan and considers Chinese sovereignty over the island indisputable.