The German-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group, which often speaks on behalf of Taiwan in the Parliament, arrived in Taiwan on Oct. 2 and visited major political figures, including President Tsai Ing-Wen. The delegation traveled to Tainan today and visited Tainan Science Park as well as many historical sites in Anping, as arranged by the Tainan City Government. Mayor Huang Wei-che welcomed the guests with Deputy Mayor Dr. Chien Tai, Bureau of Tourism Director Guo Zhen-Hui, and Bureau of Civil Affairs Director Chiang Lin-Huang.
The Mayor remarked that Tainan is honored to host Taiwan’s international partner and pointed out that Anping, which the delegation visited today, is where Taiwan’s history started. He added that Tainan plays a very crucial role in the history and cultural development of Taiwan. In addition to technology clusters such as Tainan Science Park and Shalun Green Energy Science City, Tainan is also well-known for its culture, tourism, and delicacies: this year, the MICHELIN Guide included Tainan as one of its listed cities. A total of 44 restaurants in the city were nominated by Bibendum or the judges.
Lastly, the Mayor expressed that he looks forward to further economic, diplomatic, and cultural exchanges between Taiwan and Germany, and since Tainan will commemorate its 400th anniversary in 2024, Huang invited the guests to visit again and fully enjoy Tainan’s natural scenery and good food.
The delegation visited attractions such as Anping Fort and Anping Mazu Temple, and walked around the lanes and alleys of Anping to experience the unique local sword-lion culture. The group expressed that they find Tainan’s temples very unique as they are more used to churches in Europe and showed much interest in the fortune poems and even asked to see more temple architecture styles.
Klaus-Peter Willsch, Chairperson of the German-Taiwan Parliamentary Friendship Group, led a cross-party delegation of the group’s five vice-chairpersons to Taiwan. This is Willsch’s fifth visit to Taiwan and this delegation is Germany’s first official delegation to Taiwan since the pandemic began. In addition to visiting political figures in Taipei, the delegation traveled to Tainan to meet the Mayor and visited Tainan Science Park, Anping Fort, and several other places.