TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — An Australian parliamentary delegation arrived in Taiwan on Monday morning (April 8) to hold talks with Taiwanese government officials.

The five-member group includes Chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Shayne Neumann, Deputy Chair of Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security Andrew Wallace, Chair of Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit Julian Hill, Shadow Minister for Early Childhood Education Angie Bell, and Dave Sharma, according to a Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) press release.  

From April 8-12, the delegation will meet with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮), and Legislative Yuan Speaker Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), as well as visit other Taiwan government ministries. 

MOFA pointed out that the delegation members come from both the ruling Labor Party and the opposition Liberal-National coalition, demonstrating Australia’s bipartisan support for Taiwan.

“Taiwan and Australia are partners in the Indo-Pacific region who share similar values ​​of democracy and freedom,” MOFA said. The two countries have highly complementary economic and trade relations and have close exchanges in areas such as energy, education, culture, scientific research, Indigenous peoples, and transportation security, it said. 

The ministry added the visit will strengthen “the mutually beneficial and friendly relationship between Taiwan and Australia.”