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.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was questioned by prosecutors for allegedly orchestrating an attack on a taxi driver after he was allegedly driven on a longer than necessary route in a car he disliked. The questioning at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office was ongoing as of press time last night. Police have recommended charges of attempted murder. The legally embattled actor — known for his role in the coming-of-age film Our Times (我的少女時代) — is under a separate investigation for allegedly using fake medical documents to evade mandatory military service. According to local media reports, police said Wang earlier last year ordered a
A man in Tainan has been cleared on charges of public insult after giving the middle finger during a road rage incident, as judges deemed the gesture was made “briefly to express negative feelings.” In last week’s ruling at the High Court’s Tainan branch, judges acquitted a driver, surnamed Cheng (程), for an incident along Tainan’s Nanmen Road in September 2023, when Cheng had spotted a place to park his car in an adjacent lane. Cheng slowed down his vehicle to go into reverse, to back into the parking spot, but the car behind followed too closely, as its driver thought Cheng
CAUTION: Based on intelligence from the nation’s security agencies, MOFA has cautioned Taiwanese travelers about heightened safety risks in China-friendly countries The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday urged Taiwanese to be aware of their safety when traveling abroad, especially in countries that are friendly to China. China in June last year issued 22 guidelines that allow its courts to try in absentia and sentence to death so-called “diehard” Taiwanese independence activists, even though Chinese courts have no jurisdiction in Taiwan. Late last month, a senior Chinese official gave closed-door instructions to state security units to implement the guidelines in countries friendly to China, a government memo and a senior Taiwan security official said, based on information gathered by Taiwan’s intelligence agency. The
President William Lai (賴清德) should protect Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), and stop supporting domestic strife and discord, former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) wrote on Facebook yesterday. US President Donald Trump and TSMC on Monday jointly announced that the company would invest an additional US$100 billion over the next few years to expand its semiconductor manufacturing operations in the US. The TSMC plans have promoted concern in Taiwan that it would effectively lead to the chipmaking giant becoming Americanized. The Lai administration lacks tangible policies to address concerns that Taiwan might follow in Ukraine’s footsteps, Ma wrote. Instead, it seems to think it could
RSS