Taiwan hopes for stronger trade ties with the European Union when France takes over the bloc’s rotating presidency in the first half of next year, President Tsai Ing-wen told visiting French lawmakers on Dec. 16. A six-member French delegation arrived in Taiwan on Dec. 15 for a five-day visit, the second one this year following a visit in October. The leader of the delegation, François de Rugy, is also the head of the Taiwan Friendship group in the National Assembly, the lower house of France’s Parliament. The visit is a sign of growing Western support for Taipei, as American and European politicians have made recent trips to Taiwan amid Beijing’s escalation of military threats against the self-ruled island, which it claims as its own. Chinese pressure has reduced the number of Taiwan’s diplomatic allies to 14, yet other countries maintain informal ties with the democratic island. “In the face of a …