Nearly 4,500 overseas Taiwanese have returned to Taiwan for this year's festivities marking Double Ten National Day, the Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission (OCAC) reported yesterday.
OCAC officials said that a total of 4,434 Taiwanese expatriates and their dependents living abroad had registered their arrival and planned participation in the celebrations marking the 94th ROC National Day.
The OCAC had hosted a concert on Sunday exclusively to entertain the Taiwanese expatriates from around the world. These guests were also invited to attend the all-day festivities at the Presidential Office plaza and related locations yesterday, OCAC officials said.
During their official three-day, two-night national-day stay, the Taiwanese expatriates were also expected to travel to other tourist attractions around the nation, the officials said.
The number of Taiwanese expatriate arrivals for this year's national day celebrations showed a year-on-year increase of 16.71 percent, they said.
In the meantime,nearly 400 Taiwanese expatriates in the US attended a ceremony on Sunday morning in front of the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association in Washington to celebrate the National Day.
An ROC national flag was raised before ROC Representative to the US David Lee (李大維) giving a speech to the audience. He reiterated the Taiwan government's unyielding efforts in constructing a democratic regime in Taiwan, saying that the 23 million people of Taiwan will always stand for freedom and democracy and spare no efforts to try to promote these universal principles to the 1.3 billion people of China.
On Sunday afternoon, the Formosa Aboriginal Song and Dance Troupe of Taiwan gave a dance and music performance at the Freer Gallery of Art in Washington as part of the Double Ten Day celebrations.
A photo exhibition dedicated to the celebration of the National Day opened at the Overseas Chinese Affairs Commission-run cultural center in the US capital on Saturday, with some 200 works of overseas Taiwanese living in the DC area on display. The exhibition will run for two weeks.
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