Diplomatic Inside
The annual Taiwan Carnival on Sunday showcased the island’s finest music, dance, and cuisine. Thousands of Taiwanese and many South Africans enjoyed the Food Fair, performances by the Nan Hua Performing Group, Taiwanese Aboriginal Dance, and many other aspects of Taiwanese culture while kids played at an inflatable balloon park on Sunday at the Pretoria Chinese School complex.
The Taiwan Carnival has become a traditional event organized by the Taiwanese Association in Southern Africa, making thousands of Taiwanese feel at home in the South African administrative capital, despite being more than 10 thousand kilometers away.
Taiwanese beauty products, handcrafted items, and books were showcased at the stands, while carnival visitors indulged in a variety of delicious foods including Gobi Manchurian, dim sum, gua bao, oyster vermicelli noodles, and a plethora of other delectable dishes and sweets.
In his interview with the Diplomatic Inside, Taiwan’s top diplomat in South Africa, Ambassador Oliver Liao expressed his joy for being able to join his fellow Taiwanese in Pretoria in a very meaningful and also a very enjoyable cultural event.
“Good morning, my friend. My name is Oliver Liao. I’m Taiwan’s top diplomat in this country. My office’s name is the Taipei Liaison Office in the Republic of South Africa…This is an event, what we call the Taiwan Carnival. It’s actually an event organized by the Taiwanese Association in the Republic of South Africa. Before COVID- 19, the Taiwanese Association actually came up with this annual event. Most of the foods are actually something that we enjoy very much in our daily life, something that you can very easily find in the street in Taiwan. It’s an honor Golden opportunity for not only Taiwanese people in South Africa, but also many other South Africans and also many other foreigners residing in this country to experience Taiwanese culture and Taiwanese food. I hope that everyone would trying to get to know Taiwan by Participating in this wonderful event, and I hope you also enjoy it”. Ambassador Liao expressed his happiness with the carnival, which brought his citizens, South Africans and many foreigners together.
Ambassador Liao detailed his country’s trade relations with South Africa: “In this country, we used to have a pretty large Taiwanese community in South Africa, but currently I think we have an rough estimate of around 000 Taiwanese residing in this country and the trade volume between Taiwan and South Africa usually hover around two billion USD annually. And currently I think we have still over 400 Taiwanese business houses in this country. And my office would like to do more to kind of facilitate the trade and all exchanges between Taiwan and the Republic of South Africa.”
The Taiwanese Ambassador also share the details of the cultural exchange programs that Pretoria Chinese school offers. “This school actually also has a Mandarin Chinese Language School on the weekend, which not only cater to the Taiwanese community but it also offers the opportunity for foreigners or South Africans residing in South Africa to learn the Mandarin language. And our office also has a diverse Scholarship scheme offering opportunities for South Africans. I mean, on a broader sense, students in the SADEC countries to go on scholarship schemes to study in Taiwan and pursue university degrees or even graduate school or even to do the doctoral and even postdoctoral study. So I would like to encourage everyone who’s interested in, getting such an opportunity, trying to follow our announcement on our Facebook account.”