The Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) plans to open centers for Mandarin learning in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and countries in Asia as its program to establish language learning centers abroad enters its second phase, OCAC Minister Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) said yesterday.
Hsu told lawmakers about the agency’s progress in a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee.
During the project’s first phase from 2021 to this year, the council established 84 Taiwan Centers for Mandarin Learning in the US and Europe, with 66 in the US; three in the UK; two each in Germany, France and Italy; and one each in Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Ireland, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and Sweden, the council’s Web site says.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
During the meeting, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator (DPP) Wang Ting-yu (王定宇) asked why the council has not yet established Mandarin learning centers in Australia, a leading country in the region.
“Due to Chinese infiltration, the US and Australia have both prohibited China from establishing local Confucius Institutes for Mandarin learning,” Wang said.
“The US government has recommended that those interested in learning Mandarin study at a Taiwan Center for Mandarin Learning established by Taiwan,” he added.
While there are already 84 centers in the US and Europe, does the council plan to establish centers in Australia, he asked.
Hsu said the second phase of the expansion would include Australia, New Zealand and other countries.
The Web site for the Taiwan Center for Mandarin Learning says that the centers offer “a free and democratic alternative to learning Mandarin,” while promoting “teaching with Taiwanese characteristics.”
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