President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) received a delegation of six Israeli parliamentarians at the Presidential Office Building on Friday, as part of their five-day trip. The group was invited by the Taiwan government.
President Tsai says this is the first Israeli parliamentary delegation to visit Taiwan since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. In a speech, she highlighted the economic cooperation between the two sides in science and technology, medicine, and aerospace, and celebrated the recent passage of a bilateral working-holiday visa agreement.
Israeli MP Yorai Lahav-Hertzanu also spoke at the event. He says that Taiwan is a leader in demonstrating gender equality to the world, pointing to Digital Minister Audrey Tang (唐鳳) and representative to Israel Abby Ya-ping Lee (李雅萍) as examples. He adds that he expects more Israeli businesses will invest in Taiwan, and believes that cooperation between the two sides will continue to grow.
The delegation arrives in Taiwan in the midst of political turmoil at home. Israel has seen months of large-scale protests against a judicial reform package that was ultimately passed by the legislature on July 24. Multiple demonstrations have been estimated to have protesters numbering in the hundreds of thousands.