Through Spanish Eyes: A Diplomat’s View of Taiwan

A preference for Taiwan

“A lot of people come out here on weekends and holidays to ride bikes, take walks, play tennis or basketball, and whatnot.” Dressed in sports gear and pushing a YouBike of the sort that can be rented just about anywhere in Taipei, Director General Eduardo Euba Aldape of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Taipei stands on the riverside bike path and tells us about Meiti Riverside Park, located along the Keelung River near the Meiti Evacuation Gate.

In the three-plus years since he was named as the chamber’s director general in 2020, in addition to his busy work schedule Euba’s favorite free-time pursuits have included reading, cooking, hiking, and cycling.

This swath of greenery some ten minutes from his home is where Euba comes most often to exercise. Indeed, starting from this spot he can ride in one direction all the way to Tamsui, or head off in another direction to distant Nangang. As he ticks off his beloved places and routines, it’s easy to forget that he actually hails from far-off Spain.

Having spent some 30 years as a public functionary working to promote Spain’s international economic relations, Euba’s fourth overseas posting has brought him to Taiwan.

“When I was asked to state my preferences for overseas postings, Taiwan was the only place I even listed.” A smile comes over Euba’s face as he recounts this episode.

Prior to his official posting to Taiwan, he had already been here twice. On his first visit, 11 or 12 years ago, he came to Taipei on a working trip at the invitation of ­Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and on the second occasion, while posted in Shanghai, he came to Taipei for a short personal vacation.

Those two visits made a deep impression on him. Says Euba: “The friendly people and the beautiful scenery really attracted me to this country.”

Since being posted to Taiwan, he has come to feel thoroughly enchanted by the Taiwanese way of life.

Asked to comment about Taiwan’s natural scenery, Euba notes that if someone in Madrid feels like spending some free time in the hills, it will take quite a while to get there, but in Taipei you can get into the mountains or to a riverside in just ten minutes, and there is no better example than Meiti Riverside Park.

After telling us about how he spends his free time in Taiwan, Euba waves goodbye, marking the end of a few rare moments in which he has managed to get away from his tightly packed work schedule.

Intimately familiar with many aspects of life in Taiwan, Eduardo Euba chats easily with us on a wide range of topics.

The metal gratings in El Balcón reflect regional styles in Spain, while women in hoop skirts call to mind those portrayed in Las Meninas by Velázquez. Chiang also sketches a middle-aged man reminiscent of a fellow shown in silhouette by Picasso. Every detail is redolent of Spain. (courtesy of Chiang Shu Yi)

After El Balcón was hung at the Spanish Chamber of Commerce, Chiang Shu Yi (left) and Eduardo Euba (right) posed for a commemorative photo. (courtesy of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Taipei)

Promoting friendship

The Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Taipei has a “Spain in Taiwan” Facebook page where posts come out almost daily to report on activities in which Euba has taken part.

Euba’s work gets him involved in many different matters, including politics, economics, culture, history, the arts, and education, but no matter what the field, he never misses an opportunity to promote friendship between Taiwan and Spain.

A very straightforward example can be found at the Spanish Chamber of Commerce itself, where a painting entitled El Balcón (“The Balcony”) hangs on display at the end of a Mediterranean blue corridor. It was Euba who commissioned Taiwanese artist Chiang Shu Yi to create the work.

When the chamber’s offices were being renovated in 2021, Euba wanted to hang a painting that would be distinctively Spanish in style, and in the end he decided to have one executed by Chiang, who had just returned to Taiwan in 2020 after completing a master’s degree in art in Spain.

Having lived for a time in sunny Spain, Chiang, who paints in a realist style, proposed to Euba that he would use warm-toned illustrations to insert images of well-known Spanish art, historic scenes, celebrities, and cultural elements into a series of separate balconies, each one very different from the rest. The intent would be to encourage every person visiting the Spanish Chamber of Commerce to search for the delights hidden throughout the painting.

Chiang recalls that when the painting was first hung, Euba looked it over closely, focusing in on ­every detail, and commented with pleasure: “Muy bien” (“very good”). That one short remark filled Chiang with the sort of pride that a master of centuries past must have felt after completing a painting for a cathedral. And in this case, the painting was his way of giving back some of the warmth that Spain had shown him.

Euba’s creative touch can also be noted in the events and activities regularly staged by his office.

On October 12 every year, the Spanish Chamber of Commerce has long celebrated Spain’s National Day in Taipei, but during Euba’s tenure the chamber has begun holding celebrations in other parts of Taiwan, as well.

“Besides the capital city, Taiwan has other cities and places that are quite different.” He feels that celebrating Spain’s National Day in other cities gives people in other parts of Taiwan the chance to become familiar with Spanish music, arts, and food, and generates good opportunities to deepen interactions among Spain and all parts of Taiwan.

It’s hard to talk about “getting to know Taiwan” without mentioning the predictable topic of semiconductors, but Euba notes that Taiwan is also rich in terms of culture, the arts, and history, and for examples he points to Taiwan’s Austronesian cultures and indigenous peoples. It’s all like a package, he says, that is waiting for the world to discover it.

The remains of the Convento de Todos los Santos (Convent of All Saints) on Heping Island, just offshore from Keelung, are among the physical proofs of the first-ever contacts between Spain and Taiwan.  (photo by Kent Chuang)

Part of Eduardo Euba’s job involves attending academic conferences and talking with scholars about the historical period when Taiwan was called “Hermosa” by the Spanish. (courtesy of the Asociación Taiwanesa de Hispanistas)

We are not so different

When asked about the Taiwanese food he likes best, Euba names xiaolongbao steamed dumplings, which are a favorite with foreign visitors. He then goes on to recommend that we in Taiwan should get to know Spain’s famed “tapas” culture.

Tapas, he says, is more than this or that sort of dish, but an entire way of socializing, where friends and relatives get together to share good food and good times. He would like to see Taiwanese people partake personally of tapas at Spanish restaurants so they can feel how the people of both countries have similarly exacting culinary cultures.

Besides food, Euba also mentions how Spain and Taiwan first crossed paths very long ago.

From 1626 to 1642, Spain had a presence in Kee­lung, and in 2019 a joint team of Taiwanese and Spanish archeologists unearthed remains they left behind on Heping Island, just outside the entrance to Keelung Harbor. The team’s findings are now part of a well-known archeological site.

The year 2026, which is now just two years away, will mark the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the Spanish in Taiwan, which is why Euba feels this is a good opportunity to get more Spanish people to take note of Taiwan.

He hopes to seize this opportunity to work with Taiwan in carrying out a series of activities designed to raise Taiwan’s profile in Spain.

“Friendship is built on mutual understanding,” says Euba, who says he hopes to encourage Taiwanese travelers to visit Spain so they can personally experience life in a country that, like their own, is well known for the warmth of its people.

Eduardo Euba and personnel from the Taiwan representative offices of other EU member nations are shown here taking part in a joint beach cleanup activity in Jinshan. (courtesy of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce in Taipei)

At the end of our interview, Eduardo Euba waves goodbye and prepares to cycle away on the bike path to Tamsui.