Malaysia is to cooperate with President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) “new southbound policy” by improving trade, tourism and cultural exchanges with Taiwan, Malaysian Friendship and Trade Center (MFTC) officials said on Tuesday.
MFTC President Datuk Adeline Leong (馮淑娟) made the remarks at an event in Taipei marking the 59th anniversary of Malaysia’s independence and discussed a range of topics related to bilateral ties, including academic exchanges, halal certifications and potential cooperation between the Sabah Museum in Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, and the Indigenous Peoples Cultural Development Center.
Leong said the Malaysian government welcomes the Tsai administration’s “new southbound policy” and described it as a “good beginning” for Taiwan’s outreach to ASEAN, while emphasizing the need to boost bilateral trade, investment and tourism between Taiwan and Malaysia.
Leong praised the Ministry of Education’s plan to increase scholarship quotas for Malaysian students from 20 to 30 next year as an important step in improving Taiwan’s appeal to students from ASEAN and India, adding that 16,000 Malaysian students studying in Taiwan comprise a major portion of Taiwan’s international students.
MFTC Acting Director of Investment Nurullydia binti Ahmad called on Taiwan to participate in Malaysian government’s halal certification program, saying Taiwanese businesses would gain access to the international market of Muslim consumers and Muslim-based tourism through Malaysia, “Asia’s gateway to the Muslim world.”
Halal refers to actions and objects that are permitted by Muslim law, and is most often applied in a business context to meat products and beverages that are processed in ways specified by religious texts or traditions.
Malaysia’s state-managed halal certification program is highly regarded by the global community of 1.6 billion Muslims due to its clear and transparent rules, compared with similar certification schemes in the Middle East and north Africa that are managed by religious groups, Nurullydia said.
Taiwanese participation in Malaysia’s certification program would help to extend the reach of Taiwan’s biotech, health foods and cosmetics sectors, with implications for the high-tech sector and in the development of the Internet of Things, Nurullydia added.
Food choices for Muslim tourists in Taiwan are limited, MFTC officials said, adding that they look forward to the government incorporating a halal certification system that is friendly and attractive to the Muslim world.
A group of Taiwanese-American and Tibetan-American students at Harvard University on Saturday disrupted Chinese Ambassador to the US Xie Feng’s (謝鋒) speech at the school, accusing him of being responsible for numerous human rights violations. Four students — two Taiwanese Americans and two from Tibet — held up banners inside a conference hall where Xie was delivering a speech at the opening ceremony of the Harvard Kennedy School China Conference 2024. In a video clip provided by the Coalition of Students Resisting the CCP (Chinese Communist Party), Taiwanese-American Cosette Wu (吳亭樺) and Tibetan-American Tsering Yangchen are seen holding banners that together read:
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