French envoy calls for stronger AI partnership with Taiwan

Taipei, July 11 (CNA) France is eager to collaborate with Taiwan as countries navigate the global competition for artificial intelligence (AI) leadership, French representative to Taiwan Franck Paris said on Friday.

"Taiwan may in effect be the first to make artificial intelligence into an asset for democracy," Paris said during celebrations marking France's national day, Bastille Day.

Describing such an endeavor as an "immense challenge," Paris said France, as a democracy, the next president of the G7, and a nation with a presence in the Indo-Pacific, would continue to collaborate with Taiwan toward this goal.

Paris noted that France also has extensive experience in the defense, space, and nuclear energy sectors and on green transitions, areas that could play a key role in strengthening democratic resilience.

Paris heads the French Office in Taipei, which represents France's interests in Taiwan in the absence of formal diplomatic relations.

His comments come amid intensifying global competition in AI development and growing calls for democracies to coordinate responses to emerging security and technological challenges posed by authoritarian countries.

On behalf of Taiwan's government, Deputy Foreign Minister François Wu (吳志中) lauded the close ties between Taiwan and France over the years, particularly on technology, culture and education.

"I anticipate Taiwan-France relations reaching even greater heights," he said.