This year’s special examination for consular and diplomatic personnel does not have any exam groups for Southeast Asian languages, despite the government’s “new southbound policy” that aims to improve relations with Southeast Asian nations.
The nation’s diplomats have to pass the examination to begin their training, with the exam being divided into different language groups, but this year’s exam brochure listed English, French, Japanese and German among other non-Southeast Asian languages.
In response to queries about the lack of an exam group for Southeast Asian languages, an official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that it has been sending its personnel to Southeast Asian nations to learn their languages each year and it would continue the policy instead of opening language groups in the entrance exam.
Regulations stipulate that the ministry would recruit 30 to 40 diplomatic personnel through the exam.
The available positions are divided into several language groups. The 42 positions opened this year are divided into 10 language groups: English, French, German, Japanese, Spanish, Arabic, Korean, Russian, Italian and Portuguese, with 26 positions for English, amounting to about 60 percent of all positions, while the other groups each have one or two open positions.
The ministry said the number of teachers and graduates of Southeast Asian languages in the nation are limited and the nation’s diplomatic scale is small to medium, so it would be “unfair” if each new diplomatic personnel would only be sent to one nation.
The ministry said that it has its personnel learn Southeast Asian languages as a second foreign language by sending them to Southeast Asian nations and holding language classes at its Institute of Diplomacy and International Affairs, adding that it would continue to implement the method next year.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Karen Yu (余宛如) said that language is the starting point of communication, adding: “We say we want to go south, but we do not respect their languages.”
Yu said she hopes the examination would open positions for people fluent in Southeast Asian languages to create demand, so that the supply would increase.
DPP Legislator Chung Chia-pin (鍾佳濱) said the lack of such positions this year is the result of the previous government’s policies, so he would not criticize the ministry, but added that the ministry should actively provide chances and attract such talent in the future to coordinate with the new policy.
Chung said that many women from Southeast Asian nations live in Taiwan and their children — “Taiwan’s new children” — are the best candidates for diplomats, so the government should establish scholarships to encourage students to learn about Southeast Asian affairs.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Wednesday last week approved the guidelines for establishing the “new southbound policy office,” which is to operate under the Presidential Office budget.
James Huang (黃志芳), a former foreign minister who has been designated to head the policy office, said that the goal of the policy is to “turn ASEAN into an extension of Taiwan’s domestic market.”
According to the Presidential Office, the policy office will be a task force whose staff members will come from the Presidential Office or other government agencies, either on special assignments or on loan.
Additonal reporting by CNA
Twenty-four Republican members of the US House of Representatives yesterday introduced a concurrent resolution calling on the US government to abolish the “one China” policy and restore formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan. Led by US representatives Tom Tiffany and Scott Perry, the resolution calls for not only re-establishing formal relations, but also urges the US Trade Representative to negotiate a free-trade agreement (FTA) with Taiwan and for US officials to advocate for Taiwan’s full membership in the UN and other international organizations. In a news release announcing the resolution, Tiffany, who represents a Wisconsin district, called the “one China” policy “outdated, counterproductive
Actress Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛) has “returned home” to Taiwan, and there are no plans to hold a funeral for the TV star who died in Japan from influenza- induced pneumonia, her family said in a statement Wednesday night. The statement was released after local media outlets reported that Barbie Hsu’s ashes were brought back Taiwan on board a private jet, which arrived at Taipei Songshan Airport around 3 p.m. on Wednesday. To the reporters waiting at the airport, the statement issued by the family read “(we) appreciate friends working in the media for waiting in the cold weather.” “She has safely returned home.
A Vietnamese migrant worker on Thursday won the NT$12 million (US$383,590) jackpot on a scratch-off lottery ticket she bought from a lottery shop in Changhua County’s Puyan Township (埔鹽), Taiwan Lottery Co said yesterday. The lottery winner, who is in her 30s and married, said she would continue to work in Taiwan and send her winnings to her family in Vietnam to improve their life. More Taiwanese and migrant workers have flocked to the lottery shop on Sec 2 of Jhangshuei Road (彰水路) to share in the luck. The shop owner, surnamed Chen (陳), said that his shop has been open for just
MUST REMAIN FREE: A Chinese takeover of Taiwan would lead to a global conflict, and if the nation blows up, the world’s factories would fall in a week, a minister said Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera. The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3. The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry
RSS