Taiwan looks to closer cooperation with Thailand as it celebrates 109th National Day
Taiwan celebrated its 109th National Day on Saturday at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Thailand (Office).
Lee Ying-yuan, director-general of the Office, presided over the opening ceremony.
More than 150 politicians, executives from various media, overseas Chinese, and Taiwanese businessmen in Thailand attended.
Lee said that in accordance with the Thai government's preventive measures, the office had to downsize this year's National Day event.
Lee praised both Taiwan and Thailand for their successful epidemic prevention policies, which can minimise the impact on people's lives and property.
He said that Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen had assigned him to serve as a representative of the Taiwanese government in Thailand.
He said more than 5,000 Taiwanese companies operated in Thailand and there are 150,000 overseas Chinese in Thailand. "The investment of Taiwanese businessmen in Thailand is very high. All of them have contributed to the continued growth of Thailand's economy," Lee said, adding he intended to continue to join forces with overseas Chinese in building cooperation between Taiwan and Thailand in the post-epidemic era.
Talking about their success in fighting the epidemic, he said Taiwan realised that preventing Covid-19 was a team battle and both the public and private sectors are working together in unity. As a result, Taiwan's daily mask production is the second highest in the world. He said the government’s effective planning and implementation, along with the cooperation of all people and entrepreneurs, made Taiwan safer today. He said 51 million masks labelled "MIT" had been sent to more than 80 countries, and Taiwan had donated 1.2 million masks to Thailand.
Lee thanked Taiwanese and overseas Chinese businessmen in Thailand for generously donating items for disease prevention, worth up to Bt8 million to various agencies in Thailand under the motto “Taiwan Can Help”, encouraging strong friendship between Taiwan and Thailand.
This year's Taiwan National Day celebration had three main themes: highlighting the achievements of the Taiwanese government in 2020 in combating the epidemic and international cooperation; democratic governance and Taiwanese unity in passing all obstacles. He said that Taiwan had shown great courage and potential to help other countries and move forward alongside the world.
