The Canadian community celebrated the Canadian national day in Taipei yesterday for the first time in two years, with live performances, games and food stalls selling Canadian specialties.
Canada’s July 1 birthday falls on Friday, but was celebrated early to allow weekend attendance.
This was the first Canada Day celebration to be held in Taipei since 2020, said Jordan Reeves, the outgoing executive director of the Canadian Trade Office in Taipei.
Photo: CNA
The event was a wonderful way to wrap up his four-year tenure in Taiwan, he said.
The trade office represents Canada’s interest in Taiwan in the absence of diplomatic relations.
Taiwan’s celebrations had been the largest Canada Day events in Asia before the COVID-19 pandemic, attracting more than 9,000 people each year, said the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Taiwan, which organized yesterday’s event.
The number of people in attendance at yesterday’s event, which ran for nine hours beginning at noon, appeared to be much less than previous years, likely due to the COVID-19 situation in Taiwan and a thunder shower that occurred in the afternoon.
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Harry Tseng (曾厚仁), who was at the event, said the celebration demonstrated the determination of the Canadian community in Taiwan to help “bring our lives back to normal.”
He added that the government would continue to “open up” the nation’s border controls and loosen COVID-19 measures in the near future.
The Canadian community is deeply involved in Taiwan’s economic and cultural development, Tseng said.
“Taiwan and Canada are like-minded partners. We both value and cherish freedom and democracy, and respect human rights and the rule of law,” he said.
“I believe Canada and Taiwan should be working even more closely together to bring our bilateral relations to a new height,” Tseng said.
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