TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The Taiwan Thousand Miles Trail Association (TMI Trail) on Wednesday (Sept. 20) marked its hosting of the Asia Trails Network (ATN) secretariat with a celebration featuring Vice President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) as the guest speaker.
Taiwan was more than just democracy, human rights, and semiconductors, he said. He added the country could also link up with the global community and find more international friends through the promotion of its hiking trails, Radio Taiwan International (RTI) reported.
Lai told the meeting how he had invited foreign diplomats to hike along trails in Taiwan. They had expressed their appreciation, but added that many people overseas were not aware the country had so many interesting hiking destinations, Lai said.
During his term as premier, he had started promoting local “green tracks,” including one over a distance of 177 kilometers from the Taijiang National Park on the coast in Tainan City all the way up to Yushan, Taiwan’s tallest peak. Lai also emphasized the benefits of hiking, saying it could help reduce the average 10% of people’s lives affected by disease and poor health.
