Francois Wu (吳志中) is impossible to miss in a crowd.
Tall and striking, pairing white tennis shoes with a suit, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs is at the French Festival here in Kaohsiung.
Last year, when he attended the inaugural event, he was still Taiwan’s ambassador to France.
Photo: Julien Oeuillet
“Taiwan, if you look at it very closely, is a very diverse society,” he says, “and so is France.”
Wu is probably the only Taiwanese person who speaks English with a French accent — but what he says resonates with the French community at the festival.
Dozens of booths line the festival grounds, showcasing French products from small importers and large companies alike, as well as small French-owned businesses in Taiwan. Artisanal crafts, organic beauty brands, and of course, food and wine abound.
Photo: Julien Oeuillet
And the French residents of south Taiwan happily echo the minister’s sentiment.
‘REAL FRENCH PEOPLE’
Pierre, who owns a Mediterranean restaurant in Kaohsiung, says: “I think people might have an image of France which is very far from the reality. So here they can meet real French people and see what’s going on in France, not just the Eiffel Tower.”
Photo: Julien Oeuillet
Stephane, a wine importer based in Tainan, adds: “It’s good to do it out of Taipei, it’s the same about France: it’s not always Paris.”
The comparison between Kaohsiung and Southern France is striking — no surprise that this year’s festival focuses on the Cote d’Azur, following last year’s spotlight on Provence. These are southern, coastal, provincial regions that flourish outside the shadow of their national capitals.
Heidi Chang (張硯卿), director of International Affairs for Kaohsiung City, has been the festival’s driving force from the start.
Photo: Julien Oeuillet
“Last year’s success proved that the people of Kaohsiung really value this kind of international dialogue,” she says. “The festival has grown in both size and depth. We’ve added new elements like a French artist-in-residence, immersive ocean-themed VR experiences, outdoor talks and more performances and culinary experiences. It also ties in with the UN Ocean Conference in Nice, highlighting ocean sustainability.”
Last year’s edition exceeded expectations. This year, the booths are even fuller and more numerous.
But Chang says her hope was always “that the festival becomes a platform for real cultural connection — where people can experience French culture up close, and where Taiwan-France relations grow stronger through face-to-face interaction... It’s not only about enjoying art, food, and music, but also about deepening mutual understanding. In the context of city diplomacy, events like this help bring international friendship into everyday life.”
DIPLOMACY ROOTED IN CULTURE
Kaohsiung is showing what more Taiwanese cities could do: grassroots diplomacy rooted in culture. While the central government is constrained by its lack of formal diplomatic ties, cities have more room to maneuver — reaching out to communities abroad while bypassing national-level negotiations.
“We wanted something beyond formal visits,” Chang says, “something that brings both cultures together in a fun, vibrant, and accessible way.... While the content has expanded, the core goal remains the same: to build lasting, people-to-people ties between Taiwan and France through culture.”
What the festival reveals is a city engaging with countries beyond the two superpowers.
“For the past nine years, since 2016, I think the image of Taiwan has been significantly improved in Europe,” says Francois Wu. “Taiwan, in some way, is a kind of middle power, and it’s very similar to most European Union members. In terms of population, we are the same as the Netherlands, on terms of territory, we are very similar to Belgium... And at the same time, we are all very successful with limited resources, and free countries.”
June 9 to June 15 A photo of two men riding trendy high-wheel Penny-Farthing bicycles past a Qing Dynasty gate aptly captures the essence of Taipei in 1897 — a newly colonized city on the cusp of great change. The Japanese began making significant modifications to the cityscape in 1899, tearing down Qing-era structures, widening boulevards and installing Western-style infrastructure and buildings. The photographer, Minosuke Imamura, only spent a year in Taiwan as a cartographer for the governor-general’s office, but he left behind a treasure trove of 130 images showing life at the onset of Japanese rule, spanning July 1897 to
One of the most important gripes that Taiwanese have about the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is that it has failed to deliver concretely on higher wages, housing prices and other bread-and-butter issues. The parallel complaint is that the DPP cares only about glamor issues, such as removing markers of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) colonialism by renaming them, or what the KMT codes as “de-Sinification.” Once again, as a critical election looms, the DPP is presenting evidence for that charge. The KMT was quick to jump on the recent proposal of the Ministry of the Interior (MOI) to rename roads that symbolize
On the evening of June 1, Control Yuan Secretary-General Lee Chun-yi (李俊俋) apologized and resigned in disgrace. His crime was instructing his driver to use a Control Yuan vehicle to transport his dog to a pet grooming salon. The Control Yuan is the government branch that investigates, audits and impeaches government officials for, among other things, misuse of government funds, so his misuse of a government vehicle was highly inappropriate. If this story were told to anyone living in the golden era of swaggering gangsters, flashy nouveau riche businessmen, and corrupt “black gold” politics of the 1980s and 1990s, they would have laughed.
In an interview posted online by United Daily News (UDN) on May 26, current Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) was asked about Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) replacing him as party chair. Though not yet officially running, by the customs of Taiwan politics, Lu has been signalling she is both running for party chair and to be the party’s 2028 presidential candidate. She told an international media outlet that she was considering a run. She also gave a speech in Keelung on national priorities and foreign affairs. For details, see the May 23 edition of this column,
RSS