The National Development Council yesterday proposed eight major policies to Premier William Lai (賴清德) in a plan outlining how to turn Taiwan into a Chinese-English bilingual country by the year 2030 to embrace global competition.
The plan, which the council delivered to the premier in a report, would devise key performance indicators for evaluating the effectiveness of the policies in a year.
The eight major policies are: making all official government Web sites bilingual, making official documents used by foreigners bilingual, providing bilingual frontline services in public settings, making the government’s public data available in English, making laws and regulations that pertain to foreigners bilingual, promoting bilingual services in cultural and educational settings, training civil servants to conduct business in English, and making professional and technical licensure exams available in English.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
An online English database should be created within three months, and within a year, laws and regulations related to education should be amended, the council said.
Within a year, more than 50 percent of official documents and licensure exams used by foreigners should be made available in English, 60 percent of frontline public services should be available in English, and 70 percent of the laws and regulations that pertain to foreigners should be available in English, it added.
Lai in September instructed the council to spearhead a plan to make Taiwan a bilingual nation by 2030, in response to globalization, and to improve the nation’s proficiency and competitiveness in English.
While previous policies have focused on national English proficiency exams, the council’s plan seeks to raise the nation’s overall competitiveness, sources quoted Lai as saying yesterday, adding that the policy aims to motivate the entire nation to learn English.
The council is expected to present the plan to the Executive Yuan tomorrow.
Laws must be amended to establish a flexible and innovative way in which students can learn English, the council said, adding that regulations in the Primary and Junior High School Act (國民教育法), the Senior High School Education Act (高級中等教育法) and the Private School Act (私立學校法) might need to be relaxed.
Lai said that education is the most important task in the plan, and he has instructed the Ministry of Education to propose draft amendments to the regulations within three months.
The council’s plan suggests incorporating digital technology, such as livestreaming, artificial intelligence, augmented reality and other resources to create opportunities for personalized learning accessible to everyone.
The plan’s goals include having English classes at elementary and junior-high schools taught only in English and pushing for some subjects in elementary and junior-high schools, and all skill-based courses at vocational high schools, to be taught in English.
While the council would oversee the plan, it would be an effort across departments.
The deputy directors of participating government agencies would form a committee to promote bilingualism and execute the strategies.
Local governments would implement the plan based on the unique characteristics of their city or county.
Hsu Sung-ken (許松根), a former national policy adviser and a professor of industrial economics at Tamkang University, said he supports the policy, adding that the government should set the goal of having English as “a communication tool for the next generation.”
As a trade-oriented economy, Taiwan can use English as an important means for connecting with the international community, Yuanta-Polaris Research Institute (元大寶華綜經院) president Liang Kuo-yuan (梁國源) said.
The US government has signed defense cooperation agreements with Japan and the Philippines to boost the deterrence capabilities of countries in the first island chain, a report by the National Security Bureau (NSB) showed. The main countries on the first island chain include the two nations and Taiwan. The bureau is to present the report at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee tomorrow. The US military has deployed Typhon missile systems to Japan’s Yamaguchi Prefecture and Zambales province in the Philippines during their joint military exercises. It has also installed NMESIS anti-ship systems in Japan’s Okinawa
‘WIN-WIN’: The Philippines, and central and eastern European countries are important potential drone cooperation partners, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung said Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) in an interview published yesterday confirmed that there are joint ventures between Taiwan and Poland in the drone industry. Lin made the remark in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper). The government-backed Taiwan Excellence Drone International Business Opportunities Alliance and the Polish Chamber of Unmanned Systems on Wednesday last week signed a memorandum of understanding in Poland to develop a “non-China” supply chain for drones and work together on key technologies. Asked if Taiwan prioritized Poland among central and eastern European countries in drone collaboration, Lin
TRAGEDY STRIKES TAIPEI: The suspect died after falling off a building after he threw smoke grenades into Taipei Main Station and went on a killing spree in Zhongshan A 27-year-old suspect allegedly threw smoke grenades in Taipei Main Station and then proceeded to Zhongshan MRT Station in a random killing spree that resulted in the death of the suspect and two other civilians, and seven injured, including one in critical condition, as of press time last night. The suspect, identified as a man surnamed Chang Wen (張文), allegedly began the attack at Taipei Main Station, the Taipei Fire Department said, adding that it received a report at 5:24pm that smoke grenades had been thrown in the station. One man in his 50s was rushed to hospital after a cardiac arrest
ON ALERT: Taiwan’s partners would issue warnings if China attempted to use Interpol to target Taiwanese, and the global body has mechanisms to prevent it, an official said China has stationed two to four people specializing in Taiwan affairs at its embassies in several democratic countries to monitor and harass Taiwanese, actions that the host nations would not tolerate, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. Tsai made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, which asked him and Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) to report on potential conflicts in the Taiwan Strait and military preparedness. Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Michelle Lin (林楚茵) expressed concern that Beijing has posted personnel from China’s Taiwan Affairs Office to its
RSS