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Taiwan's former representative to France, Lu Qing-lon (Michel Lu), says, "You don't need to remember Ambassador Lu. But after you see and hear my speech and performance, I guarantee that you will remember that this is Taiwan."
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Taiwan’s former representative to France, Lu Qing-lon (Michel Lu), was invited to give a speech at the Oscar d’ille et vilaine 2015, in which he took the chance to impress the French by performing Taiwanese traditional glove puppets.
ETtoday reports, Lu put on a short Taiwanese puppet show in fluent French, promoting Paris-Taipei direct flights and even mentioned that France and Taiwan have a lot of cooperation opportunities. Lu also sang a Taiwanese song, earning a burst of applause.
CNA reports, Lu says that there are 250 political parties in Taiwan, which is “a little more than the amount of parties in France." He also introduced Taiwan’s strengths in global economy and trade. The video clip of Lu’s speech has attracted more than 360 thousand clicks so far.
“360 thousand views sounds like quite a large number," Lu said in an interview with CNA after the event. Lu then said modestly that diplomacy is continuous work and each of his colleages from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has contributed a lot. He was doing his job with a touch of creativity.
After Lu finished his puppet show, the host said his performance exceeded the time limit and he could not finish his speech. Lu then showed his sense of humor, saying people are liberal in France and urged everyone to visit Taiwan.
68-year-old Lu served as the Taiwanese representative to France in 1980. In 2007, he took up the position again and stayed in France for eight years until retiring this July.
TVBS reports, in the Avignon Festival 2013, Lu showed the art of Taiwanese puppetry to the world. Lu says, “You don’t need to remember Ambassador Lu. But after you see and hear my speech and performance, I guarantee that you will remember that this is Taiwan."
Translated by June
Edited by Olivia Yang
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