This year’s Europe Festival opened yesterday in Taipei to celebrate Europe Day and give people a taste of the continent while international travel is hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The two-day fair, themed “The EU Connects,” organized by the European Economic and Trade Office in Taiwan, is held on a swathe of grass on the northern side of the Huashan 1914 Creative Park in Taipei.
This year’s edition features more than 50 stalls that showcase European brands, products, food, cuisine and cultural activities.
Photo: Wang Yi-sung, Taipei Times
The festival was not held in the previous two years.
Office Director Filip Grzegorzewski, representatives of 15 EU member states in Taiwan, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) and Taipei Commissioner for External Affairs Tom Chou (周台竹) were among the attendees at the festival’s opening.
“I believe this pandemic has shown us how deeply connected we are with each other,” Grzegorzewski said.
“The EU and Taiwan may seem far from each other geographically, but we are connected through the common values we share as like-minded partners, such as democracy, human rights and the rule of law,” he said.
Wu said that Taiwan-EU relations have “never been stronger.”
He thanked European countries for voicing support for Taiwan’s wish to participate in international organizations, citing the French Senate’s adoption of a resolution to that effect and a joint communique on the issue from G7 foreign ministers.
Europe Day marks the EU’s birthday, according to the office’s Web site.
On May 9, 1950, then-French minister of foreign affairs Robert Schuman “proposed a European peace project to end all wars on the European continent. The plan then gave birth to the European Union as we know it today,” a statement on the Web site said, adding that May 9 “is thus commemorated as ‘Europe Day,’ and a day to highlight Europe’s unity and diversity.”
PRAISE: Japanese visitor Takashi Kubota said the Taiwanese temple architecture images showcased in the AI Art Gallery were the most impressive displays he saw Taiwan does not have an official pavilion at the World Expo in Osaka, Japan, because of its diplomatic predicament, but the government-backed Tech World pavilion is drawing interest with its unique recreations of works by Taiwanese artists. The pavilion features an artificial intelligence (AI)-based art gallery showcasing works of famous Taiwanese artists from the Japanese colonial period using innovative technologies. Among its main simulated displays are Eastern gouache paintings by Chen Chin (陳進), Lin Yu-shan (林玉山) and Kuo Hsueh-hu (郭雪湖), who were the three young Taiwanese painters selected for the East Asian Painting exhibition in 1927. Gouache is a water-based
A magnitude 4.1 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 2:23pm today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was 5.4 kilometers northeast of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 34.9 km, according to the CWA. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was the highest in Hualien County, where it measured 2 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 1 in Yilan county, Taichung, Nantou County, Changhua County and Yunlin County, the CWA said. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
‘WORSE THAN COMMUNISTS’: President William Lai has cracked down on his political enemies and has attempted to exterminate all opposition forces, the chairman said The legislature would motion for a presidential recall after May 20, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday at a protest themed “against green communists and dictatorship” in Taipei. Taiwan is supposed to be a peaceful homeland where people are united, but President William Lai (賴清德) has been polarizing and tearing apart society since his inauguration, Chu said. Lai must show his commitment to his job, otherwise a referendum could be initiated to recall him, he said. Democracy means the rule of the people, not the rule of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), but Lai has failed to fulfill his
OFF-TARGET: More than 30,000 participants were expected to take part in the Games next month, but only 6,550 foreign and 19,400 Taiwanese athletes have registered Taipei city councilors yesterday blasted the organizers of next month’s World Masters Games over sudden timetable and venue changes, which they said have caused thousands of participants to back out of the international sporting event, among other organizational issues. They also cited visa delays and political interference by China as reasons many foreign athletes are requesting refunds for the event, to be held from May 17 to 30. Jointly organized by the Taipei and New Taipei City governments, the games have been rocked by numerous controversies since preparations began in 2020. Taipei City Councilor Lin Yen-feng (林延鳳) said yesterday that new measures by
RSS