Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan was joined by Representative Guido Tielman of the Netherlands Office Taipei at a virtual meeting with Mayor Sharon Dijksma of Utrecht, Taoyuan’s sister city in the Netherlands on March 15. In addition to expressing their hope for deepening Taiwan-Netherlands cooperation in circular economy, green energy technology, medicine, and culture, the three panelists also exchanged ideas on pandemic control, development of sustainable cities, and future cooperation.
Mayor Cheng first touched upon the incident of cluster infections at Taoyuan General Hospital and measures that have been taken as well as Taiwan’s precise pandemic control. Mayor Dijksma applauded Mayor Cheng for his appropriate response during the global pandemic. She believes that Taiwan’s proper pandemic control and monitoring capabilities can serve as an example for the Netherlands. She also thanked Taoyuan for its face mask donations to the City of Utrecht.
According to Mayor Cheng, Taoyuan is the first city in Taiwan to incorporate the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) into its city governance and the world’s 17th city to publish a voluntary local review (VLR) report. The city’s growth in sharing mobility services such as public bikes and electric scooters is the highest in Taiwan, making it a bike-friendly city. As of February, the city has completed 40 bike lanes for cyclists, including one recreational corridor along a local railway line. The mayor voiced his support during the meeting for the two cities to co-organize a cycling workshop to promote cycling culture in cities. He also mentioned that more than 70,000 trade-ins and purchases of e-scooters have been registered in Taoyuan, which is the highest among Taiwan’s six major municipalities.
Mayor Cheng stated that more than 80% of the country’s logistics operators are based in Taoyuan. He therefore reiterated that the implementation of low-carbon, low-pollution, renewable energy, and smart technologies in the warehousing and transportation management of the logistics industry will help mitigate their operational impact on traffic and the environment. Across Taoyuan’s major industrial parks, the city government has installed thousands of micro air quality monitoring devices to trace sources of pollutions and monitor air quality while enhancing the city’s smart technology deployment. The mayor believes that Taoyuan and Utrecht share many similarities in city development as both cities are dedicated to building a healthy, low-carbon, and sustainable lifestyle for their citizens.
Mayor Dijksma mentioned that the network of local NPOs in Utrecht have been holding Cycling Embassy workshops to help promote the cycling culture. To achieve the goal of a healthy city, the city government has also been encouraging the installations of air quality sensors on bikes to help monitor air quality of the city in real time. The mayor also expressed her hopes for the two cities to co-organize workshops on sustainable development and kick off more tangible cooperation after the global crisis is over.
Representative Tielman also looks forward to the two cities’ future cooperation. As Taiwan and the Netherlands have long enjoyed close bilateral economic and trade cooperation, he is confident that the two sides will see more exchanges in areas of smart city, sustainable development, and advanced technologies.
The online discussion also focused on economic and cultural aspects in addition to environmental issues. Mayor Cheng added that Dutch designers and architects are actively involved in the Terminal 3 project of Taoyuan International Airport. Taoyuan is also home to Dutch semiconductor manufacturer ASML’s manufacturing facilities in Taiwan. As the Taoyuan Museum of Fine Arts have co-organized a special exhibition with Utrecht’s Central Museum to celebrate its 3rd anniversary, the mayor looks forward to more arts and cultural exchanges made between Taoyuan and the Netherlands.
Director-general Yen Tzu-chieh of the Secretariat of Taoyuan City pointed out that Taoyuan and Utrecht signed an MOU to become sister cities in 2019. When the COVID-19 crisis broke out in Europe, the city government immediately sent out a letter of concern to extend possible assistance to Utrecht. He welcomes more online meetings on pandemic control between the two cities as the lessons drawn from the two cities’ pandemic response can serve as future reference to steering the course of pandemic control.