Taiwan is set to open institutes in New York, Los Angeles and Houston in the US in October as part of a project initiated by President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to establish “Taiwan Academies” worldwide to promote “Taiwanese culture with Chinese characteristics,” an official said yesterday.
The US has granted permission for the establishment of Taiwan Academies after the “misunderstanding” that fee-charging language courses would open in Taiwan’s representative offices in the US was clarified, Council for Cultural Affairs Minister Emile Sheng (盛治仁) said.
“What concerned the US most was that we planned to run Chinese-language classes at our representative offices, but that was not our plan in the first place,” Sheng told a press conference after presenting the proposal to the Cabinet.
Sheng said that promoting the study of traditional Chinese characters, a main objective of the Taiwan Academies project, would take various forms, including establishing free digital learning resources for both learners and teachers and providing learning materials for local language-teaching institutions.
Setting up Taiwanese academies overseas was a campaign promise by Ma as part of his efforts to secure the nation’s role in spreading what he called “Taiwanese culture with Chinese characteristics” and pushing the use of traditional Chinese characters, as opposed to the simplified characters used in China.
Government Information Office Minister Philip Yang (楊永明) said the establishment of the academies was not aimed at competing with China’s Confucius Institutes.
“The Taiwan Academies will not just be about learning Chinese, but also a platform to do research on Chinese classics, to learn Chinese culture with pluralistic Taiwanese characteristics and to promote Taiwanese culture,” Yang said.
The government has budgeted NT$3.6 billion (US$142.4 million) to carry out the project over four years, with plans to establish branches in Europe and Asia next year following the first three in US, Sheng said.
The project includes a combination of nine different grants and scholarships, currently worth NT$600 million annually, offered to foreign college and graduate students as well as academics to encourage them to either study Mandarin or do Taiwan-related research in the country, he said.
In past years, the Overseas Compatriot Affairs Commission has run cultural centers in a number of major US cities.
Overseas Compatriot Affairs Commission Minister Wu Ying-yih (吳英毅) said in a telephone interview that the major difference between the commission’s centers and Taiwan Academies is that they are targeted at different groups.
The commission provides services to Taiwanese, while the academies are aimed at foreigners and descendants of Taiwanese, Wu said.
The academies in Los Angeles and Houston will be set up at the commission’s offices, and the one in New York will be established under the Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office in New York, Wu said.
Based on its own experience in providing Chinese-language instruction, training Chinese teachers and promoting Chinese language and culture, the commission’s centers can easily extend their services to foreigners, Wu said.
CALL FOR SUPPORT: President William Lai called on lawmakers across party lines to ensure the livelihood of Taiwanese and that national security is protected President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday called for bipartisan support for Taiwan’s investment in self-defense capabilities at the christening and launch of two coast guard vessels at CSBC Corp, Taiwan’s (台灣國際造船) shipyard in Kaohsiung. The Taipei (台北) is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels, and the Siraya (西拉雅) is the Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) first-ever ocean patrol vessel, the government said. The Taipei is the fourth and final ship of the Chiayi-class offshore patrol vessels with a displacement of about 4,000 tonnes, Lai said. This ship class was ordered as a result of former president Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) 2018
UKRAINE, NVIDIA: The US leader said the subject of Russia’s war had come up ‘very strongly,’ while Jenson Huang was hoping that the conversation was good Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and US President Donald Trump had differing takes following their meeting in Busan, South Korea, yesterday. Xi said that the two sides should complete follow-up work as soon as possible to deliver tangible results that would provide “peace of mind” to China, the US and the rest of the world, while Trump hailed the “great success” of the talks. The two discussed trade, including a deal to reduce tariffs slapped on China for its role in the fentanyl trade, as well as cooperation in ending the war in Ukraine, among other issues, but they did not mention
HOTEL HIRING: An official said that hoteliers could begin hiring migrant workers next year, but must adhere to a rule requiring a NT$2,000 salary hike for Taiwanese The government is to allow the hospitality industry to recruit mid-level migrant workers for housekeeping and three other lines of work after the Executive Yuan yesterday approved a proposal by the Ministry of Labor. A shortage of workers at hotels and accommodation facilities was discussed at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee. A 2023 survey conducted by the Tourism Administration found that Taiwan’s lodging industry was short of about 6,600 housekeeping and cleaning workers, the agency said in a report to the committee. The shortage of workers in the industry is being studied, the report said. Hotel and Lodging Division Deputy Director Cheng
TOKYO SUMMIT: The new Japanese PM’s words have demonstrated Japan’s ‘firm position on urging the prioritization of cross-strait peace,’ the foreign ministry said Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday thanked US President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi for supporting peace in the Taiwan Strait, a day after the two at a summit in Tokyo emphasized the importance of regional stability and ahead of a meeting between Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in South Korea today. The previous day’s meeting was the first time Takaichi had met with the US leader since becoming Japanese prime minister, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement. Since taking office on Tuesday last week, Takaichi has urged the international community to
RSS