TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Vice President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) wants Taiwan to promote its orchids worldwide just like the Netherlands has done with tulips, reports said Friday (March 3).
He was speaking at a ceremony for the annual Taiwan International Orchid Show in Tainan City’s Houbi District. The show will feature 50,000 plants under the theme of “Orchid of Mirrors” until March 19.
Houbi was also the site for one of the key facilities for growing orchids, but also for playing a leading part in research into the flower, Lai emphasized, per the Liberty Times.
He pointed out how the research had resulted in the design of orchids showing the flag of Ukraine last year and the Turkish flag this year, to show sympathy with the victims of war and earthquakes respectively.
Orchids from Taiwan could strengthen the country’s image, and make it as famous as the Netherlands is for its tulips, the vice president told his audience. The Council of Agriculture (COA) emphasized Taiwan already exported NT$6.21 billion ($203 million) worth of orchids last year, with the United States, Japan, Vietnam, the Netherlands, South Korea, and Canada as the major markets.
