Nearly 900 overseas Taiwanese have signed up to attend president-elect William Lai’s (賴清德) inauguration on May 20, Overseas Compatriots Affairs Council Minister Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) said yesterday.
Since registration for the ceremony opened earlier this month, 870 Taiwanese living abroad had signed up as of yesterday, Hsu said at a question-and-answer session at the legislature.
With registration to be open until May 10, the council estimates the number of overseas Taiwanese in attendance to be between 1,500 and 1,700, she said.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
Meanwhile, the council continues to solicit support from overseas Taiwanese to promote the nation’s image as a force for good in the world, it said in a report submitted to the legislature.
An overwhelming majority of Taiwanese-Americans, 95 percent, had a “somewhat” or “very” favorable view of Taiwan, the report said, citing a survey conducted by Pew Research Center last year.
Only 41 percent of Chinese adults in the US viewed China positively, the survey showed, adding that more Chinese Americans held a more favorable attitude toward Japan, Taiwan and South Korea than China.
Taiwan’s achievements in economic development, social security and civil liberties are the best ways to win the recognition of overseas Taiwanese, the report said.
The council assisted overseas Taiwanese communities in holding 147 events abroad to support Taiwan’s bid to join the World Health Assembly last year, which drew 31,337 participants, it said.
The council is to create official accounts on new media platforms to help disseminate information about the government’s major policies quickly and accurately, which would help international society have a deeper understanding of Taiwan’s political and economic development, it said.
To avoid misunderstanding and distrust in the government by overseas Taiwanese due to disinformation, the council is to apply a standard operation procedure to clarify misleading and false information online, it said.
Assisting the development of Taiwanese businesspeople abroad is another focus of the council, which is working with 14 domestic research and development institutions and 39 universities and colleges to launch projects that promote industrial upgrading and academia-industry collaboration, it said.
Businesses based overseas are invited to visit domestic companies or research and development institutions to seek opportunities to upgrade or expand their businesses, it said.
The council also provides opportunities for the children of overseas Taiwanese to study in Taiwan to nurture a better understanding of the nation and a deeper sense of Taiwanese identity, the report said.
The program has cultivated more than 160,000 alumni who have graduated from Taiwanese institutions, it added.
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