A European Parliament delegation is visiting Taiwan and met with President Tsai Ing-wen on Thursday. They're here to learn how Taiwan deals with disinformation and interference from China. This is the EU Parliament's first delegation to visit Taiwan.
Last month, the European Parliament passed a report calling for closer ties with Taiwan. It passed with a landslide vote with 86% supporting the motion. That's the second highest level of approval for a report in this parliamentary term.
President Tsai Ing-wen says Taiwan hopes to continue building deeper ties with the European Union. She looks forward to sharing Taiwan's experiences in combating the spread of disinformation.
The leader of the delegation, Raphael Glucksmann, said, "We came here with a very simple, very clear message - You [Taiwan] are not alone. We came here to learn from you, to learn from your capacity of building such a strong democracy while being confronted with such a level of threat and interference".
Glucksmann added that the EU is grappling with foreign threats spreading dangerous, false information throughout the region. These attacks threaten to weaken democracy in the EU. Gluckmann said Taiwan has had phenomenal success in confronting similar issues while maintaining the people's freedom of speech, so it's time for the EU to stand together with Taiwan.