With a huge ice sculpture of the Kremlin as a party centerpiece, hundreds of well-wishers gathered in Taipei to wish Russia a happy birthday and toast Russia-Taiwan ties last Thursday on the eve of Russian National Day.
Although Taiwan and Russia do not have formal diplomatic relations, they have forged strong cultural and commercial ties, with trade volume reaching a record US$4 billion last year, said Sergey Gubarev, the head of the Representative Office for the Moscow-Taipei Coordination Commission on Economic and Cultural Cooperation.
The commission was established in 1992, one year after the collapse of the former Soviet Union.
Gubarev, who has been posted to Taipei for three-and-a-half years, said he has never encountered a “cold attitude” in all his interactions with Taiwanese officials and that mutual efforts will strengthen bilateral cooperation.
In addition to fruitful business relations, Taiwan and Russia have developed active and frequent cultural and academic exchanges, Gubarev said.
Taiwanese and Russian scientists are engaged in more than 50 joint projects and each year, he said.
Russia welcomes more than 300 Taiwanese students while about 200 Russians study in Taiwan. There are about 1,000 Russians in Taiwan at present.
One Russian student, Alexander Avgust, came to Taiwan on a scholarship almost four years ago. After getting his degree in politics from the Chinese Cultural University, Avgust has decided to stay to work in Taiwan.
“I like Taiwan a lot, especially the weather and the friendliness of the people,” he said.
Gubarev said more than 10,000 Taiwanese visit Russia annually but less than 2,000 Russians come to Taiwan. The main reason for this discrepancy, he said, is the lack of a beach culture in Taiwan.
For many Russians, a vacation means a break from the icy cold weather of their hometowns and so they are more interested in countries with beachfront resorts, he said.
Guests at the reception enjoyed typical Russian cuisine such as borscht and cabbage rolls, along with Russian wine.
Four Russian members of the Kaohsiung Philharmonic Orchestra performed during the reception.
INFRASTRUCTURE: Work on the second segment, from Kaohsiung to Pingtung, is expected to begin in 2028 and be completed by 2039, the railway bureau said Planned high-speed rail (HSR) extensions would blanket Taiwan proper in four 90-minute commute blocs to facilitate regional economic and livelihood integration, Railway Bureau Deputy Director-General Yang Cheng-chun (楊正君) said in an interview published yesterday. A project to extend the high-speed rail from Zuoying Station in Kaohsiung to Pingtung County’s Lioukuaicuo Township (六塊厝) is the first part of the bureau’s greater plan to expand rail coverage, he told the Liberty Times (sister paper of the Taipei Times). The bureau’s long-term plan is to build a loop to circle Taiwan proper that would consist of four sections running from Taipei to Hualien, Hualien to
A relatively large earthquake may strike within the next two weeks, following a magnitude 5.2 temblor that shook Taitung County this morning, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. An earthquake struck at 8:18am today 10.2km west of Taitung County Hall in Taitung City at a relatively shallow depth of 6.5km, CWA data showed. The largest intensity of 4 was felt in Taitung and Pingtung counties, which received an alert notice, while areas north of Taichung did not feel any shaking, the CWA said. The earthquake was the result of the collision between the Philippine Plate and the Eurasian Plate, the agency said, adding
Snow fell in the mountainous areas of northern, central and eastern Taiwan in the early hours of yesterday, as cold air currents moved south. In the northern municipality of Taoyuan, snow started falling at about 6am in Fusing District (復興), district head Su Tso-hsi (蘇佐璽) said. By 10am, Lalashan National Forest Recreation Area, as well as Hualing (華陵), Sanguang (三光) and Gaoyi (高義) boroughs had seen snowfall, Su said. In central Taiwan, Shei-Pa National Park in Miaoli County and Hehuanshan National Forest Recreation Area in Nantou County saw snowfall of 5cm and 6cm respectively, by 10am, staff at the parks said. It began snowing
The 2025 Kaohsiung Wonderland–Winter Amusement Park event has teamed up with the Japanese manga series Chiikawa this year for its opening at Love River Bay yesterday, attracting more than 10,000 visitors, the city government said. Following the success of the “2024 Kaohsiung Wonderland” collaboration with a giant inflatable yellow duck installation designed by Dutch artist Florentijn Hofman, this year the Kaohsiung Tourism Bureau collaborated with Chiikawa by Japanese illustrator Nagano to present two giant inflatable characters. Two inflatable floats — the main character, Chiikwa, a white bear-like creature with round ears, and Hachiware, a white cat with a blue-tipped tail
RSS