A Fair to Commemorate Bilateral Relations between Belize and Taiwan

On Saturday, the Taiwanese Embassy in Belize celebrated the thirtieth anniversary of established diplomatic ties between Belize and Taiwan. Both countries have cooperation in areas such as education, agriculture, climate change resilience, infrastructural development, as well as culture. News Five’s Duane Moody attended the all day fair that took place on Taiwan Street along the Memorial Park. Here’s his report.

Duane Moody, Reporting

The brief ceremony at the entrance to Taiwan Street in front of the Taiwanese Embassy in Belize culminated with an all day fair. Despite the inclement weather, residents in attendance were exposed to a wide array of things—from Belizean and Taiwanese cuisine to various products from Belizean artisans as well as information on Taiwan and the collaboration between both governments.

Remus Li-Kuo Chen

Remus Li-Kuo Chen, Taiwanese Ambassador to Belize

“Today is actually an event for love, for hope and faith for our two peoples because thirty years of friendship means a lot to everyone here in Belize and also our people in Taiwan because we actually have touched upon almost every aspect of a comprehensive robust partnership and relationship. We want to make sure that when there’s any need, when there is anything that Belize and Taiwan can work together, we’ll be with you, we’ll stand firm with you. And today we can see that an event such as this one, the cultural heritage can be showcased.”

For parents and those students who are interested in an opportunity to study in Taiwan, there was an information booth set up by the embassy. Facts shared by the East Asian island shows a country with a dense population of twenty-three million persons; it also is home to one of the tallest buildings in the world.

Zao Wei

Zao Wei, Taiwanese Embassy

“We’d like to introduce what’s happening in Taiwan, what Taiwan can offer to Belizean friends, for example the Taiwan scholarship, the technical cooperation between the two countries and things like that. We are sixty times larger than Belize in terms of population, but length wise, we are only one-third larger. But imagine we have so much people squeezing on the island. So that’s Taiwanese; very crowded, the traffic is pretty bad. But because we have limited space, our buildings can only go up.”

Many persons took advantage of the bubble milk teas and smoothies that were on sale. There was also an opportunity to try the fusion of Taiwanese and Belizean cuisine such as a black pepper chicken and noodle dishes as well as sheep tacos and tamales.

There were over forty booths showcasing the cultural exchange between both countries. Director of Museum, Alexis Salazar says that the National Institute of Culture and History has benefitted from both technical and financial support from the Taiwanese government.

Alexis Salazar

Alexis Salazar, Director of Museums

“Some of our employees studied in Taiwan and brought back that technical knowledge here and they are using it to promote culture in Belize. So they have provided financial and technical support to us which is invaluable. What we have is not only a museum display, but the National Institute display. We have two departments out: one because the Institute of Archaeology is working on the Belize Archaeological Symposium so we have the Institute for Social And Cultural Research out here doing games, we have the Museum of Belize talking about the bird exhibit that recently opened and then we have other elements from the Institute of Creative Arts who are promoting the film festival which is going to open up soon.”

Duane Moody for News Five.