Taiwan and Belgium Maintain Close Ties

“The Belgian Office, Taipei wishes you a Happy Year of the Snake!” In January of this year, Director Branders sent a Lunar New Year greetings card from the Belgian Office, Taipei to Taiwan Panorama. The card, drawn by the Belgian visual artist Dimitri Piot, features a giant green mythical snake supporting on its back the Taipei 101 skyscraper and the tower of Brussels Town Hall, and shows a sky lantern rising into the heavens. The artist thus skillfully uses the two most noted landmarks of Taiwan and Belgium to symbolize the ties of friendship between us. The Divine Snake and sky lanterns are both auspicious symbols in traditional Taiwanese culture, while the warm feel of the artist’s brushstrokes imparts a strong atmosphere of affection and season’s greetings.

His first choice

As the son of a diplomat, Branders has been a globetrotter from a young age. Before entering the foreign service himself, he first spent a time working as an attorney, an occupation which led him to make extended stays in Saudi Arabia, Malaysia, and Indonesia. Since becoming a diplomat he’s been posted to Singapore, Japan, and Brazil, and most recently to Taiwan.

As one with a zest for change, Branders has always enjoyed cultural exchange with the various countries he has lived in. In the past, he was always up for whatever fate might have in store for him. But when the time came to indicate his preference for his fourth foreign service posting, he was a father of four and had come to view things through a different lens. His first consideration was his children’s educational environment. “It was important to have a place where there is good education, good health, and safety. And so we asked to be posted to Taiwan. It was at the top of our list, and I was very lucky to be posted to Taiwan.”

Branders has now been in Taiwan for a year and a half and says, “The quality of life is really good. Our kids can go around town on their own. They can take the bus, and then they text us to say they’ll be eating with their friends tonight, and so on. This is very nice because there are not so many countries in the world where you can just relax even when your kids are young and they are outside.”

This Lunar New Year greeting card, drawn by the Belgian visual artist Dimitri Piot, features the two most noted landmarks of Taiwan and Belgium, plus a sky lantern rising upward, to symbolize the growing ties of friendship between us.  (courtesy of the Belgian Office, Taipei)

Shown here is one of many works currently on display at the Chimei Museum in Tainan at a special exhibition entitled Painters' Tales of the Low Countries: Flemish and Dutch Paintings of the Chimei Collection, which features paintings from the 16th and 17th centuries. (courtesy of the Belgian Office, Taipei)

The Taoyuan Public Library has opened a special Belgium section in its new Main Library, to provide members of the public with a place where they can go to learn more about the country.  (courtesy of Taoyuan Public Library)

A true Taiwan expert

Whenever he gets posted to a new country, says Branders, the first year is very exciting, and there is a great deal to learn. For example, right near the Belgian Office in Taipei there is a car dealership where Branders often notices people waving burning spirit money and incense sticks around a vehicle in some sort of mysterious ceremony. Such observations have gotten him curious about Taiwan’s folk religious beliefs.

Branders has also noticed that Taiwanese people tend to put safety first most of the time, and points to the fact that swimming is prohibited in many places, and that even at swimming beaches, the areas where swimming is permitted are strictly prescribed. This demonstrates the great respect the Taiwanese have for the dangers of water.

Yet their attitude toward fire, he observes, is another matter entirely. He notes that people are quite comfortable releasing a sky lantern with a burning fire inside and letting it drift where it will. And in the town of Yanshui in Tainan, Branders watched throngs of hyped-up revelers dance in varying degrees of body armor amid truly threatening cascades of powerful fireworks, in a scene that struck fear into his heart even as he shouted out in amazement.

Clicking into the Facebook page of the Belgian Office, one finds news releases describing visits by Branders to places all around Taiwan. Branders lovingly recalls the special features of cities across the island. Kaohsiung, for example, is a seaport that has done a marvelous job of building up cultural venues at numerous spots near the port. Meanwhile historic Tainan, which he has visited many times, entered into a sister city relationship with the Belgian city of Leuven in 1993, and in 2024 Branders accompanied a delegation led by Leuven’s Mayor Mohamed Ridouani to Tainan to mark the 400th anniversary of Tai­nan’s founding.

Taoyuan is another city for which Branders has a special affection. He likes its name and the beautiful Lalashan National Forest, where one can admire stunning stands of giant old-growth trees. He also notes that Taoyuan International Airport is Taiwan’s main port of entry for international visitors, and that the city has opened many new venues for artistic and cultural events in recent years. After the Taipei International Book Exhibition in February 2024, the Belgian Office, Taipei donated all of its books and bookshelves from the exhibition to the Taoyuan Public Library, which in July of the same year opened a special Belgium section in its new Main Library to provide members of the public with a place where they can go to learn more about Belgium.

When asked about his favorite Taiwanese foods, Branders chuckles that he is a very adventurous eater. He had no problem giving stinky tofu a try, but can’t take it too stinky. But perhaps the biggest surprise for him has been the veggies. Vegetables in Taiwan, and the methods for cooking them, come in an amazingly wide variety, and the veggies themselves are very easy to come by, which sets Taiwan sharply apart from other countries. Taiwan’s vegetarian food has turned the non-vegetarian Branders into a big fan of vegetarian cuisine. A vegetarian meal and a bike ride every day have enabled him to lose 20 kilos in weight. Looking back at photos of himself from before is like looking at an entirely different person. “I feel like I’m looking at my older brother,” he quips.

Tainan is a sister city of Leuven in Belgium. Matthieu Branders (left) accompanied Leuven’s Mayor Mohamed Ridouani (second left) on a visit to build ties of friendship. (courtesy of Tainan City Government)

The Belgian Office, Taipei took part in the Taipei International Book Exhibition 2025 and invited Belgian visual artists and publishers to come and interact with fairgoers.

Joint-venture crane vessel

Branders notes that Belgium has been ruled in the past by Austria, France, and the Netherlands, and points out that Taiwan has a similar cultural background as a small ­country surrounded by larger powers. As such, it needs new ways of facing challenges, and the Taiwan government’s attitude of “showing respect and maintaining an open environment” has enabled Taiwan to attract talent from all over the world. According to Branders, the ability to take advantage of international cooperation to overcome obstacles is a trait that Taiwan and Belgium have in common.

Taiwan and Belgium are both responding proactively to the issue of net-zero transition, which has been eliciting intense global scrutiny. Indeed, a Taiwan–Belgium joint venture invested in the Green Jade, a heavy lift installation vessel now being used for the construction of wind farms off Taiwan’s west coast.

The vessel’s owner is CSBC-­DEME Wind Engineering Co. Ltd. (CDWE), a joint venture established by Belgium-­based DEME Offshore and Taiwan’s CSBC Corporation. CDWE spent three years building Taiwan’s first fully revolving crane vessel for offshore wind farms, the second-­largest such vessel in the world. The ship has a crane capacity of 4,000 metric tons, and the boom can reach up to 165 meters high—the crane can lift the weight of 3,000 automobiles to the height of a 30-story building in a single go. Just last year, the Green Jade successfully completed the installation of a wind farm off the coast of Changhua County, thus accelerating the development of Taiwan’s green energy industry.

Matthieu Branders makes a point of visiting places all around Taiwan and taking part in all types of activities, including gay pride marches, beach cleanups, and more. (courtesy of the Belgian Office, Taipei)

A Taiwan–Belgian joint venture has invested in the Green Jade, a heavy lift installation vessel for building offshore wind farms. This ship is boosting the development of Taiwan’s offshore wind industry. (courtesy of CSBC-DEME Wind Engineering Co.)

Deep bilateral ties

Branders humbly acknowledges that cooperation between Taiwan and Belgium was already coming along quite nicely before he was posted to Taiwan, and he simply picked up where his predecessors had left off.

As an example, he mentions the fact that Taiwanese manga art, which has been moving forward by leaps and bounds in recent years, is now garnering lot of inter­national attention. For instance, Taiwanese manga artist Sean Chuang was invited to give a solo exhibition at the Belgian Comic Strip Center. Branders is also very much looking forward to the opening of the National Taiwan Museum of Comics in Taichung. When the time comes, he says, staff from the Belgian Comic Strip Center will be sure to come to express congratulations, and we can look forward to the two institutions setting up an exciting collaborative program.

When asked about his plans for the coming year, Branders rattles off a string of ideas. He has fallen in love with cycling, and is thinking of perhaps starting up a Belgian cycling club in Taiwan, or arranging a guided trip to visit places where Belgians have had a significant presence in Taiwan. Such a trip might start in Jinguashi and Jiufen, for example, to appreciate our shared history of mining. And the tour might proceed from there to Ruifang, where over 50 years ago Father Ernest Delille established the renowned Little Flowers of Taiwan folk dance troupe, which eventually performed in Europe. Nuggets of history like this tell of ties between Taiwan and Belgium that very few people here are aware of. In addition, Branders mentions how he would like to see the big fireworks display in Penghu, soak in the hot springs of Green Island, and climb Yushan. He’s only just begun his stay in Taiwan, so there are many more great adventures lying in store for him! 

The lush forests and gigantic old-growth trees of Lalashan National Forest have made a deep impression on Matthieu Branders.

Matthieu Branders has fallen in love with cycling, and intends to visit the most interesting and beautiful spots around the island to spur more interactions between the people of Belgium and Taiwan.