Taiwan lauded as 'island of islands' during Taiwan culture day in Belgium

Leuven, Belgium, June 27 (CNA) A Taiwan group that aims to educate audiences about the lives of residents in the nation's offshore islands was featured as a keynote presenter on Saturday at the Taiwan Culture Festival Leuven 2026 in Belgium.

On Saturday, co-founders Shih Pei-yin (施佩吟) and Ho Hsin-chieh (何欣潔) of Taiwan's "The RITO Project" presented the lives of residents in Taiwan's outlying Kinmen, Lienchiang (Matsu), and Penghu counties at Belgium's Irish College Leuven.

With "Learning from the Taiwan Strait" as the featured topic, the duo lectured on how different the lives of the nation's offshore residents are from those of their counterparts on Taiwan proper.

Speaking with CNA, Ho said that Taiwan is not a single-island nation, but a country made up of many islands.

She said she aimed to bring that awareness to the world through stories from Taiwan's outlying counties.

As a part of their presentation, the duo also screened "Frontline Residents," a docuseries about what life is like living in the outlying Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu islands that serve as the frontline between Taiwan and China.

Ho said while frontline residents often feel secure with the presence of Taiwan's servicemen, they are also face-to-face with the pressure of a potential military conflict.

She added that the lecture was aimed not only at Belgian attendees of the event but also at the Taiwanese audience members.

Besides Ho and Shih's lecture and the screening of the docuseries, the Saturday event also featured performances and a special market that sold products, including books about Taiwan's offshore islands.

The non-stereotypical retrospective on Taiwan drew in not just audience members from different cultures, but also Taiwanese expats and students in Belgium as well.

The Saturday event was a part of Belgium's annual Taiwan Culture Day, which this year was centered around the theme of "An Island Trilogy Summer Solstice in Leuven: Exploring the evolving sounds and visions of Taiwan" and held in the Belgian city of Leuven.

Another featured movie screened at the event was "A Chip Odyssey" (造山者), which lauds Taiwan's semiconductor industry.

Speaking with CNA, Taiwan's envoy to the European Union and Belgium, Shieh Jhy-wey (謝志偉) said that being a sea-bordering nation like Taiwan, it was easy to draw in Belgian residents to Taiwan's story through cultural events.