Taipei: Taiwan's Minister of Culture Li Yuan began a European tour on Sunday with a visit to the United Kingdom, marking the first official visit to Britain by a Taiwanese culture minister. The U.K. is the first stop on Li's trip, which will also take him to France to attend the judging session for the 30th Taiwan-France Cultural Award and the presentation ceremony for the 29th edition of the award.

According to Focus Taiwan, Li hopes to use the visit to showcase Taiwan's diverse cultural offerings and policies to counterparts in Britain, France, and elsewhere in Europe, while inviting leading cultural figures to Taiwan for exchanges and joint projects aimed at forging stronger cultural partnerships. On Sunday, Li visited the Barbican Centre and the Young VandA museum in London to learn from Britain's experience in developing technology-driven arts programs and children's museums, as Taiwan advances several major cultural infrastructure projects.

Those projects include the National Children's Future Museum, the National Railway Museum, the National Comics Museum, and the second-phase expansion of the National Museum of Taiwan History, according to the Ministry of Culture (MOC). At the Barbican Centre, one of London's leading multidisciplinary arts venues, Li praised its integration of cultural facilities, green spaces, and nearby residential neighborhoods. The center, established in 1982, houses a theater, galleries, a concert hall, a cinema, a large conservatory with more than 1,500 species of plants and trees, a library, meeting and community spaces, restaurants, and a lakeside garden.

Speaking to reporters after the visit, Li mentioned that with the MOC's involvement, the government's planned national "urban forest" initiative "will have a story to tell." He stated that the ministry hopes to integrate ecological planning into museums, cultural facilities, communities, and other cultural sites across Taiwan.

At the Young VandA, Li toured the museum with chief curator Alex Newson, who noted that more than 22,000 children, teenagers, teachers, and other participants contributed ideas during the museum's redesign before it reopened in 2023. Li praised the museum's child-centered approach, expressing Taiwan's hope to adopt a similar participatory approach for its planned National Children's Future Museum to encourage creativity and make children active participants in shaping the institution.

The minister is scheduled to spend five days in the U.K. before traveling to France. He will conclude his European tour on Sept. 15 and return to Taiwan the following day, according to the MOC.