Taiwan’s top diplomat and the US deputy representative to Taiwan yesterday held a joint event to celebrate a group of Taiwanese high-school students who would soon be visiting the US as part of an annual government program promoting public diplomacy.
During the “Teen Diplomatic Envoys” program flag ceremony, Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) congratulated the 18 students who have been selected to represent Taiwan this year.
Since its initiation in 2002, the program, which is part of the government push for “youth diplomacy,” has sent 63 groups of high-school students overseas to help them broaden their international outlook, Lin said.
Photo: Lo Pei-de, Taipei Times
This year’s program is different from previous editions in terms of how the envoys were selected, according to Lin.
Previously, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Education opened the program to high schools nationwide to send their students as a team representing each school, before choosing which school’s team would be that year’s Teen Diplomatic Envoys.
This year, the application process was opened to all high-school students to apply as individuals, instead of as one team per school, he said.
A total of 180 trainees were accepted into a five-day training camp for the program, which offered courses spanning the English language, diplomacy and international affairs, cross-cultural communication, and international exchanges, to help prepare for the 10-day trip, the minister said.
Through a selection process, 18 of the 180 were chosen to become this year’s teen diplomats, he added.
Meanwhile, American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Deputy Director Karin Lang, who officially took up her post last week, said in her address that the ceremony yesterday was her first public engagement since assuming office.
She offered her best wishes to the 18 Taiwanese young people heading to the US.
“Ahead of you lies the opportunity to practice true diplomacy, building bridges. Every meal you share, every story you tell, every friend you make, will help strengthen the bonds between Taiwan and the United States,” she said.
“So my message to you is simple: Be curious, be bold, be open, ask a lot of questions, and carry with you the pride of representing Taiwan, and a commitment to the future of US-Taiwan relations, and of course, most of all, most important, have fun,” she added.
The AIT represents US interests in Taiwan in the absence of formal diplomatic ties.
According to the foreign ministry, the 18 teen diplomats would be divided into two teams, with one visiting Los Angeles and San Francisco, and the other going to Chicago and Houston, each for 10 days, starting on Saturday.
They would meet with politicians, academics and students, it added.
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