Mayor Hou presenting a gift set to Representative Pulles (left).

Netherlands Representative of the Netherlands Office Taipei Bas Pulles paid an official visit to New Taipei City Mayor Hou Yu-ih today (November 26). The two exchanged views on long-term care, smart healthcare, cultural exchanges, and sustainable urban planning, with hopes to further the partnership between New Taipei City and the Netherlands.
 
Mayor Hou stated that New Taipei City is quickly becoming a superaged society, where over 790,000 or 20% of residents are aged 65 or above, and 58,000 residents suffer from dementia. In 2017, the New Taipei City Government launched dementia-friendly communities. In 2024, the city became the first in Taiwan to achieve dementia-friendly status across all districts. In September 2025, the city government visited The Hogeweyk and Philips Innovation Center Eindhoven - Best Campus in the Netherlands to learn about small-scale home care, AI medical imaging, remote monitoring, and smart equipment. The humanistic and technological harmony across the two sites was deeply inspiring.

Mayor Hou emphasized that smart healthcare will be a major policy directive in New Taipei City’s efforts to address aging. Currently, New Taipei City is home to 6,000 ICT businesses and 2,600 healthcare businesses – boasting a comprehensive smart healthcare industry chain. In the future, the city government will facilitate cross-country cooperation between businesses from Taiwan and the Netherlands in the domain of AI healthcare, remote care, and medical technologies. The Future City for Older Adults will serve as a demonstration site for smart healthcare and senior-friendly policies as New Taipei City strives to build a more robust and forward-looking environment for older adults.
 

Group photo taken after the official visit.

Mayor Hou also shared that soft cultural powers are critical to a city’s competitiveness. As such, the city government is currently planning for its second main library. Inspired by the public libraries of Amsterdam, this new main library is set to become a cultural landmark featuring sustainable designs and aimed at encouraging resident interactions. Mayor Hou also named Rotterdam’s Market Hall and City Surf as paradigms of creativity and sustainable use of spaces. In the future, New Taipei City will be looking to introduce low-carbon architecture, humanistic transportation, and public art into major development projects such as the one in Xinshi Town – creating a livable and innovative cityscape.
 
During his visit, Netherlands Representative Bas Pulles thanked the Secretariat for inviting him and his wife to the Pinglin tour, where they enjoyed a deep dive into Pinglin’s local tea culture. Representative Pulles expressed that New Taipei City is a place to be revisited again and again, and that the city demonstrates incredible capacity in elderly care, smart healthcare, and urban culture. He believes that New Taipei City and the Netherlands share similar policy thinking and industrial development, and he hopes for greater cooperation in the future to encourage mutual progress.

The visiting delegation also included Deputy Representative Matthijs van der Hoorn and Senior Cultural Policy Officer Chou Rong-hui. Also in attendance from the New Taipei City government were Director-General of the Secretariat Juh Hui-mei, Commissioner Chen Ran-chou of the Department of Health, Commissioner Sheng Hsiao-rung of the Economic Development Department, and Director-General Chang Chia-yu of the Cultural Affairs Department.