On invitation by Mrs Lily Chen, Director General of the Taipei Liaison Office, Mrs Christina Teichmann, Deputy Chair of the FW de Klerk Foundation, and the Foundation’s Legacy Manager, Brenda Steyn, visited the Taipei Liaison Office in Cape Town on 30 January 2026.

The meeting aimed to explore possible areas of cooperation and provided the Foundation’s representatives with the opportunity to watch a documentary which tells the success story of Taiwan’s impressive transformation, from a mainly agrarian to a high-tech economy.

The economic transformation of the country, that today is a world leader in the manufacturing of semiconductors, is even more remarkable in the light of the island’s limited natural resources.

A lesson that can be learnt from this success story is that the investment in human capital pays off and that visionary leadership can make all the difference.