Els Van Hoof, Co-chair of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee and Belgium-Taiwan Friendship Group made a special visit to Tainan City on October 20. Deputy Mayor Yeh Tse-shan welcomed the visitors on behalf of Tainan Mayor Huang Wei-che and Senior Specialist Tian Ling-hu from the Department of Information and International Relations was also present. The two parties had extensive conversations about Taiwan-Belgium relations and city diplomacy.
Deputy Mayor Yeh Tse-shan thanked Ms. Van Hoof for her special visit to Tainan and for her and the Belgian Representatives’ ongoing support of Taiwan throughout the years. In recent years, the Belgian Parliament has successively passed several Taiwan-friendly resolutions, which are of great significance to Taiwan-Belgium relations. The Deputy Mayor expressed that Taiwan and Tainan strive to collaborate with European allies with similar ideals, such as Belgium, to maintain peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region.
Yeh also mentioned that this year marks the 30th anniversary of Tainan and Leuven’s sister city relationship, which began in 1993. This April (2023), Deputy Mayor Thomas Van Oppens of Leuven City visited Tainan and expressed that he looks forward to more cooperation between the two cities in areas including green energy, technology, and culture.
Deputy Mayor Yeh went on to say that Tainan and Leuven are well-known for their long histories as well as their numerous scientific and technological innovation accomplishments. Given that Tainan is Taiwan’s cultural capital and the oldest city, and that the Southern Taiwan Science Park and Shalun Green Energy Science City are the two main drivers of domestic science and technology industries, he anticipates more interactions between Belgium and Tainan. Furthermore, Tainan’s National Cheng Kung University, KU Leuven, and the Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre (IMEC) in Belgium have already signed cooperation agreements.
Chair Els Van Hoof stated that the delegation of eight pro-Taiwan representatives from various political parties is here to highlight the friendship between Belgium and Taiwan and they look forward to helping Taiwan maintain stability in the Asia-Pacific region through bilateral or regional cooperations. She pointed out that Taiwan is unquestionably a leader in the semiconductor industry and IMEC, which is the world’s top semiconductor research center and headquartered in Leuven, has offices in Taiwan as well. In the area of green energy, Belgium and Taiwan have investments and partnerships in the wind power industry, which demonstrates the growing ties between the two countries. Van Hoof pointed out that 2025 marks the 600th anniversary of the founding of the KU Leuven and invited Tainan City to conduct academic, industrial, and cultural exchanges.
Els Van Hoof was born in Leuven and has served as the Deputy Mayor and City Councilor of Leuven City. A veteran in the political scene, she is currently the Co-Chair of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee and the Belgium-Taiwan Friendship Group. Van Hoof has been following the Cross-Strait relations closely in recent years and has supported Taiwan’s international participation through petitions and during many parliamentary interpellations. She led the Belgian Chamber of Representatives delegation to Taiwan from October 15 to October 20, 2023. This is her third visit to Taiwan.