Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) yesterday praised the 104 university students who recently concluded a five-month study program offered as part of the government’s New Southbound Policy, adding that they would bolster people-to-people exchanges with Taiwan.
The graduates of the New Southbound Policy Elite Study Program came from 12 partner countries from among the 18 covered under the policy, which includes ASEAN members, South Asian countries, Australia and New Zealand.
They underwent a five-month immersive program introducing them to Taiwan’s society and democracy, and teaching them Mandarin, Lin said in his address at a ceremony marking the program’s conclusion at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Taipei.
Photo: Chang Chia-ming, Taipei Times
The program also included a series of cultural activities and tours of local businesses, focused particularly on some of Taiwan’s more advanced medical, semiconductor and smart agriculture sectors, Lin said.
“Through the friendships that you have made here, relations between Taiwan and the nations you represent will deepen,” he said.
He urged the graduates from Australia, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Nepal, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam to share their experience in Taiwan with their friends and families in their home countries.
“In the coming years, I hope to welcome even more participants from partner countries to this program so that our nations can grow and prosper together,” he added.
The New Southbound Policy Elite Study Program, launched in 2022, seeks to train talented individuals from New Southbound Policy nations.
In its third year, the program has hosted 221 students.
The program covers each student’s tuition and round-trip airfare, as well as accommodation and a monthly stipend of NT$8,000.
This year’s program partnered with five Taiwanese universities — Taipei Medical University, National Taipei University of Technology, National Pingtung University of Science and Technology, National Chung Hsing University in Taichung and National Quemoy University in Kinmen County.
The program is among the initiatives of the New Southbound Policy, which was launched in 2016 under then-president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) to expand the country’s economic, educational and cultural links with Southeast Asian and Asia-Pacific nations.
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