Expats laud ex-President Tsai's Europe visit as raising Taiwan's profile

Brussels, Oct. 18 (CNA) A Taiwanese couple running a restaurant that sells home cuisine in Belgium, including bubble tea, expressed excitement about the visit of former President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Friday, saying the trip to Europe will ensure more people there learn about Taiwan.

After visiting the Czech Republic, France and Brussels in Belgium, Tsai dropped by the 5-year-old establishment "T'more enjoy" opened by Chang Yu-shan (張瑜珊) in Leuven, which is about 25 kilometers from Brussels, Friday morning.

"We are so ordinary, how come she chose here?" asked Chang, who moved to Belgium with her husband for his job at Interuniversity Microelectronics Centre.

Chang said more customers have told her they had visited Taiwan over the past five years, but many also said their friends still do not know anything about Taiwan.

"Her visit alone is a topic maker," Chang said. "It makes more people understand how unique and important Taiwan is. (Taiwan) leads the world in technologies and food culture."

Chang said it was an honor to prepare food for the former president, who left office in May. She ordered fresh pig's blood from the butcher to make pig blood cake for Tsai.

Tsai arrived in Brussels Thursday and attended a reception held by members of the European Parliament, making her the first former Taiwan president to visit the legislative body in the city that houses the European Commission headquarters.

(By Tien Hsi-ju, Tseng Ting-hsuan and Kay Liu) Enditen/AW