The chairwomen of the councils for cultural affairs and labor affairs yesterday went to Kinmen to promote joint schemes to preserve and develop local heritage, indigenous cultures and the history of military build-up on the island.
The collaboration between the two agencies is part of a cross-ministerial cooperation initiative between four women members of the DPP administration: Council of Cultural Affairs Chairwoman Tchen Yu-chiou (陳郁秀), Council of Labor Affairs (CLA) Chairwoman Chen Chu (陳菊), Council for Hakka Affairs Chairwoman Yeh Chu-lan (葉菊蘭) and Vice Education Minister Fan Sun-lu (范巽綠).
The four agreed earlier this year to work together to push ahead with their respective agencies' initiatives.
Tchen yesterday said that her council's collaboration with the CLA in building up the community's culture and industry could help both agencies achieve their goals.
Tchen said that the manpower and finances the cultural agency needed for the projects could be arranged by CLA.
"In this way, wages for local construction workers can be doubled through the joint subsidies from the CLA and CCA, helping blue-collar families in the area," she said.
In Kinmen, Tchen said, her agency is working on two projects: the NT$600 million Cultural Park and the NT$3 million New Hometown Community Construction Project.
The manpower for the two projects is being arranged by the CLA.
The Council for Hakka Affairs could also help with Council for Cultural Affairs projects in Taoyuan, Hsinchu and Miaoli, where a lot of Hakkas live, Tchen said.
Chen said the cooperation would not lead to waste.
"We are working to complement each other and avoid overlapping responsibilities," Chen said.
This year, the CLA has appropriated employment service budgets worth NT$7.8 million in Kinmen.
Kinmen County Commissioner Lee Chu-feng (李炷烽) yesterday expressed his appreciation to the two women's efforts in developing the remote island.
However, Lee stressed that Kinmen's competitiveness relied on the further expansion of links with China.
Kinmen's situation is different from Taiwan proper in terms of geographic location and its close ties with China's Fujian Province, Lee said.
RSS