An informal group of deputies friends of Taiwan in the Portuguese parliament made their first day of visit to the territory this Saturday. “I intend to leave testimony that Taiwan has friends and it’s not just us.”
The president of the informal group of deputies friends of Taiwan in the Portuguese parliament, Paulo Rios de Oliveira, told the Lusa news agency, from Taiwan, that he wants to leave the institutions with the “support and solidarity” of their constituents.
“I intend to leave the testimony that Taiwan, when it needs friends, we are here and Taiwan has friends and it is not just us. In this difficult moment, when Taiwan needs friends, we are here, we are present, we are in solidarity, that is what I want to leave”, Paulo Rios de Oliveira assumed.
The delegation is made up of seven deputies – Paulo Rios de Oliveira (leader), João Moura, Carlos Eduardo Reis and Helga Correia (PSD), João Castro, Norberto Patinho and Vera Braz (PS) – who belong to the informal group of friendly deputies of Taiwan, which “is over 20 years old” and which the Social Democrat has presided over “for more than eight”.
Paulo Rios de Oliveira told Lusa that there are more delegations in the city, such as “a delegation from the Czech Republic, a Lithuanian one, it seems that one from Canada will come to join the one from the United States” of America.
“I want to bring more concrete knowledge of what is happening here and how we can continue to help and, perhaps, one of the ways to help is precisely to tell the world that it is true and that democracy is being lived here,” he added. he defended
The deputy said that in Taiwan “if you live a full democracy like any democracy in Western Europe, it is exactly the same” and added that he is “witness” to it.
“On the other hand, to what extent can I increase and intensify our contacts, that is, cultural and academic and I hope to take more ideas from here to be able to increase that in Portugal,” he said.
The Social Democratic deputy said that he wants it to be known in Taiwan that, “in addition to the official Portuguese position, regarding the position of China and Taiwan, there is in Portugal, in the Portuguese and, in this case, in a sovereign body, a set very large number of deputies who see themselves and show solidarity with Taiwanese democracy”.
“This is not a cause against anyone, it is a cause in favor of many things, in favor of principles. Principles of democracy, freedom, peace, human rights, gender equality, these are our principles and they are your principles, ”she reinforced.
On the first day, the group visited “the oldest center of the city and one of the oldest temples in Taiwan, with an extraordinary history, where various religions are mixed” and ended up having dinner with Portuguese students who “praised the people and their hospitality and the enormous security of the city”.
Working days are reserved for “institutional visits” and on Monday the group will have “an audience with the Vice President of the Republic and then a lunch at the Ministry of Agriculture, which promotes” the meeting.
“The institutional relationship is of the highest level, having awareness and a sense of responsibility not to say, because it is not true, that it is a delegation of the Assembly of the Republic or of the Portuguese State”, he assumed.
And he added: “I leave my institutional support from a large group of deputies, from a Portuguese sovereign body who are in the free exercise of their mandate, but I have a sense of responsibility that Portugal has a position in this conflict.”
“But that does not prevent a very large group of deputies from the Assembly of the Republic of Portugal, who review and support the cause of Taiwan, not against anyone, but in favor of many things that we share and it is in this capacity that I will always speak ”, he assumed.
Paulo Rios de Oliveira challenged even “more politicians” to visit Taiwan to “learn the reality and from there to be able to talk about what is happening and why it is such a relevant issue.”
Last week, during a visit to Terceira Island, in the Azores, the Chinese ambassador to Portugal, Zhao Bentang, spoke about the Taiwan conflict, criticizing foreign interference, particularly the US.
China considers Taiwan a province that is part of its territory and that it intends to recover at any time, without ruling out the use of force to take over the island, which has Washington as its main ally.
On the heels of a visit by then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan in August last year, China held a series of military exercises, after Chinese diplomacy said Washington he was “playing with fire”.
Earlier this month, China responded again with new military exercises after the new leader of the Republican majority in the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy, received in Washington the president of Taiwan, Tsai Ing-wen.
The visit of the Portuguese parliamentarian comes a week after French President Emmanuel Macron suggested, during a trip to Beijing, that the European Union should have its own position on the conflict between Taiwan and the Beijing authorities, separated from the position of the United States.
“We Europeans should not be followers nor do we have to adapt to the American rhythm or to a Chinese overreaction,” said Macron, who defended greater “strategic autonomy” in diplomatic terms by Brussels.
Source: Observadora
