A full house

Belgium King’s Day in Beijing was celebrated on 17 November 2023. the official date is actually 15 November.
It was full house with over 400 guests. For the first time part of the new embassy was used. See further.
Always a great opportunity to meet Belgian and other friends. In my case, meeting Peter Ritzen, Jim Nobles, the team of (Belgian) Dewit Lawyers Office and many more.
Our host, the Belgian ambassador, was joined by the EU ambassador in China and Chinese VIP. The embassy did a great job.
Also the opportunity to showcase some of our Belgian products, of course beers, waffles, Belgian fries.

Food was done by chef Renaat Morel of Morel’s Restaurant. Corinne and Hongjie serving drinks. Yes I enjoyed my plate of the delicious food!
We were lucky with the weather, it was chilly outside but still pretty nice.
See here the report by the embassy.

The new embassy

Belgium King’s Day in Beijing also gave us a glimpse of the new embassy. I had mentioned the project in an earlier post.
See again the link to the architect and to the embassy project. Do not use VPN…

The Embassy and Consulate General will be closed and the consular services will be temporarily suspended from 11 until 15 December included, due to the move into the new premises. We are advised to apply for documents one might need (e.g. passports, eID, …) on time and preferably before 8 December to avoid problems during the Christmas holidays.
I hope (not really) the new embassy will be more “visitor friendly”. I miss the old embassy of the time when we had direct contact with the staff. Now, forget it. I have NEVER been invited into the temporary embassy, just into the lobby. Sadly times have changed, everywhere. Also in Belgium public services, banks and other have become very remote from the public.