Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) presented a national flag to 40 students as they are to embark on a 10-day trip to Saint Lucia tomorrow as part of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ (MOFA) International Youth Ambassador Exchange Program.
Through three rounds of selections, 36 young people stood out from over 200 applicants, 18 for their English public speaking skills and 18 for their cultural talents, the ministry said.
The Ministry of Labor joined the program for the first time this year, selecting four past winners of the National Skills Competition in culinary to join the group of youth ambassadors, it said.
Photo: CNA
Taiwan’s Embassy in Saint Lucia actively sought the opportunity for the youth ambassadors to visit the country again after the delegation sent by the program in 2015 left a deep and favorable impression on the local government and its people, it said.
After two weeks of training, the group yesterday gave a preview of the performance they would bring to Saint Lucia wearing T-shirts in the colors of Taiwan’s Caribbean ally’s national flag.
Saint Lucian Ambassador to Taiwan Robert Kennedy Lewis said that his children participated in the workshops held by the program in Saint Lucia and enjoyed them very much.
He thanked the program for enhancing the people-to-people relationship between Taiwan and Saint Lucia, adding that the youth ambassadors would be warmly welcomed by locals.
Wu said that he believed the ambassadors could bring the two countries closer through their performances and conversations.
During the trip, the group is to meet with senior Saint Lucian government officials, visit schools at different levels and interact with local youths in an international youth forum and other cultural activities, MOFA said.
The culinary talents are to display their skills by using local ingredients cultivated with Taiwan’s agricultural technologies in a tasting activity to practice “food diplomacy,” it said.
Tourism and agriculture are key industries in Saint Lucia, and Taiwan’s technical missions have been assisting locals in planting various crops, it said.
The youth ambassadors are to share their trip on the program’s Facebook page, it added.
Four factors led to the declaration of a typhoon day and the cancelation of classes yesterday, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) said. Work and classes were canceled across Taiwan yesterday as Typhoon Krathon was forecast to make landfall in the southern part of the country. However, northern Taiwan had only heavy winds during the day and rain in the evening, leading some to criticize the cancelation. Speaking at a Taipei City Council meeting yesterday, Chiang said the decision was made due to the possibility of landslides and other problems in mountainous areas, the need to avoid a potentially dangerous commute for those
There are 77 incidents of Taiwanese travelers going missing in China between January last year and last month, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) said. More than 40 remain unreachable, SEF Secretary-General Luo Wen-jia (羅文嘉) said on Friday. Most of the reachable people in the more than 30 other incidents were allegedly involved in fraud, while some had disappeared for personal reasons, Luo said. One of these people is Kuo Yu-hsuan (郭宇軒), a 22-year-old Taiwanese man from Kaohsiung who went missing while visiting China in August. China’s Taiwan Affairs Office last month said in a news statement that he was under investigation
PRO-CHINA SLOGANS: Two DPP members criticized police officers’ lack of action at the scene, saying that law enforcement authorities should investigate the incident Chinese tourists allegedly interrupted a protest in Taipei on Tuesday held by Hong Kongers, knocked down several flags and shouted: “Taiwan and Hong Kong belong to China.” Hong Kong democracy activists were holding a demonstration as Tuesday was China’s National Day. A video posted online by civic group Hong Kong Outlanders shows a couple, who are allegedly Chinese, during the demonstration. “Today is China’s National Day, and I won’t allow the displaying of these flags,” the male yells in the video before pushing some demonstrators and knocking down a few flagpoles. Radio Free Asia reported that some of the demonstrators
An aviation jacket patch showing a Formosan black bear punching Winnie the Pooh has become popular overseas, including at an aviation festival held by the Japan Air Self-Defense Force at the Ashiya Airbase yesterday. The patch was designed last year by Taiwanese designer Hsu Fu-yu (徐福佑), who said that it was inspired by Taiwan’s countermeasures against frequent Chinese military aircraft incursions. The badge shows a Formosan black bear holding a Republic of China flag as it punches Winnie the Pooh — a reference to Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) — who is dressed in red and is holding a honey pot with
RSS