TAIPEI: Taiwan's foreign minister Lin Chia-lung met with European Parliament members this week in an unannounced stop in Brussels as part of his first visit to Europe to firm up ties. Taiwan has worked to strengthen ties with European countries as it faces an increasingly assertive China, which claims the self-ruled democratic island as part of its territory. The foreign ministry in Taipei had previously announced that Lin, leading a delegation of representatives of 20 Taiwanese drone companies,