On June 10, members of the French National Assembly’s Taiwan Friendship Group visited DSET to exchange views on several key topics, including Taiwan-Europe drone collaboration, Taiwan’s energy security, and Taiwan’s experience in countering disinformation from China.
DSET CEO Dr. Jeremy Chang Chih-cheng delivered the welcome remarks, expressing gratitude for the delegation led by Marie-Noëlle Battistel, Chair of the Taiwan Friendship Group. He emphasized DSET’s ongoing efforts to strengthen cooperation with European partners across various research areas and noted that he will travel to Paris and Brussels later this month for think tank dialogues on semiconductors, anticipating further exchanges between both sides.
DSET’s National Security Research Program shared insights from its upcoming report on Taiwan-U.S. drone cooperation, highlighting the recent surge in Taiwanese drone exports to Europe over the past two years and the growing collaboration between Taiwanese and French drone companies. DSET expressed its desire to deepen research collaboration with both the French National Assembly and the French Office in Taipei to help advance the development of non-PRC supply chains.
In efforts to bolster Taiwan’s communication resilience, the government has also partnered with Eutelsat OneWeb, a joint venture between France and the United Kingdom. DSET is currently conducting satellite communication research and hopes to engage in deeper dialogue with European stakeholders to strengthen Taiwan’s communication resilience.
The French delegation also focused on Taiwan’s efforts in countering Chinese disinformation. In particular, they posed in-depth questions about the DSET’s Democratic Governance Research Program’s recent report titled “Generative AI and Democracy”, which discussed cases of disinformation interference by China during Taiwan’s 2024 presidential election.
Huang Kai-shen, Director of the Democratic Governance Division, responded by noting the significant impact of Chinese disinformation during the 2024 election and warned of similar risks for Taiwan’s 2026 local elections. He also compared Taiwan’s response mechanisms with those of the EU, emphasizing Taiwan’s more diverse, locally driven collaborative approaches. Nonetheless, he noted that Taiwan still requires more international cooperation in technical defenses against disinformation.
The visiting delegation from the French National Assembly’s Taiwan Friendship Group was led by Chair Marie-Noëlle Battistel, and included Vice Chair Éric Martineau, Vice Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee Laetitia Saint-Paul, and members Marie-José Allemand and Claudia Rouaux.
