Dutch envoy ends Taiwan stint, highlights closer bilateral ties

Taipei, June 25 (CNA) Outgoing Dutch representative to Taiwan Guido Tielman has said he is "proud" of having strengthened bilateral relations between the Netherlands and Taiwan during his five-year tenure.

Tielman, who heads the Netherlands Office Taipei (NLOT), said in a social media post on Wednesday that it was "an honor of a lifetime" to have taken on the role of Dutch representative.

He said that over the past five years, his office has worked to build "ever closer cooperation" between the Netherlands and Taiwan in economic, technological and cultural fields, including joint efforts in water management, offshore wind development, semiconductors, cybersecurity and agriculture.

He also pointed to 2024 as a milestone year for bilateral cultural diplomacy, as his office commemorated the 400th anniversary of the first recorded contact between the Netherlands and Taiwan with a Dutch pavilion at the Taipei International Book Exhibition, a gala dinner, academic seminars and other events.

He was referring to the period of Dutch colonization in Taiwan, which began in 1624 and ended in 1662.

Tielman said he is "proud" of the record the NLOT has built, while thanking the government, the private sector and civil society groups in Taiwan he worked with over the years.

He added that he and his family would leave Taiwan "with sadness" but also "with gratitude."

Tielman took charge of the NLOT, which represents the Dutch interests in Taiwan in the absence of official diplomatic relations between the two sides, in 2020. Previously he had been posted to India and China.

Despite Tielman saying June 25 was his last day in office, neither the Dutch nor Taiwanese government has yet announced who will be his successor.