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President Tsai attends state banquet hosted by Nauru President Waqa

2018-03-25

President Tsai attends state banquet hosted by Nauru President Waqa

We had a full schedule today, but our itinerary was successful and enlightening, thanks to the thoughtful arrangements made by Nauru President Baron Waqa and his able team. And thank you, President Waqa, for your warm hospitality.

In January of this year, at a press conference during President Waqa’s visit to Taiwan, His Excellency sang the song You Are My Best Friend while playing a ukulele made in Taiwan. The people of Taiwan took the song's message of friendship to heart, and were quite moved and grateful. Here, I’d also like to say to our friends in Nauru: You are our best friends!

Good friends get together often. I hear that our performance group from the National Taiwan College of Performing Arts has become very popular in Nauru, attracting large crowds to each of their performances over the past year.

Since the beginning of this year, Taiwan and Nauru have had close exchanges every month, from participating in weightlifting competitions to celebrating Nauru's independence. Furthermore, Taiwan's Technical Mission here works day in and day out with our friends in Nauru and has achieved many important successes.

I hope that the friendship between Taiwan and Nauru continues to blossom and deepen, and this is why I decided I simply had to visit Nauru.

I've brought with me seedlings from Taiwan's unique moth orchids. Taiwan is a world-renowned "orchid kingdom," and the vibrant moth orchid is a famous species.

I hope that bilateral relations between our countries will be resilient and beautiful like these orchids, and that together we will produce outstanding achievements.

Distance has never been a problem. For example, this afternoon President Waqa and I witnessed the Taiwan Technical Mission leader Lee Yi-long's (李宜龍) proposal to Ministry of Foreign Affairs Section Chief Huang Mei-chun (黃美君). Like the love that binds this young couple, the Taiwan-Nauru friendship will remain close and enduring.

Throughout the day, I've noticed that many of the friends who have welcomed us so warmly are in fact "Tairuans"—Nauruans who have spent time in Taiwan. This combination of "Taiwan" and "Nauruans" symbolizes the close connection between our two countries and peoples.

President Waqa once said to me that Taiwan and Nauru are like family, providing mutual support and moving towards the future together. We welcome more friends from Nauru to visit Taiwan, get to know more about Taiwan, and become "Tairuans" themselves.

I would like to congratulate Nauru on its 50th anniversary of independence, and I look forward to the next 50 years of an enduring Taiwan-Nauru friendship that will only get better with age.

In closing, I would like to thank President Waqa once again for his warm hospitality. I would also like to invite everyone to join me in a toast: to the peace and prosperity of Taiwan and Nauru, and to everlasting friendship between our countries. Thank you.

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