Taiwan’s young envoys

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LAST Monday, 28-member 2017 Taiwan Youth Ambassadors distributed bags of rice to the needy at the Tzu Chi Foundation Happy Land Tondo.

The International Youth Ambassadors Exchange Program, initiated in 2009 by the previous Kuomintang (KMT) administration, was conceived to expose the youth to international affairs and promote public diplomacy. The program was given a fillip under the new ruling government Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of President Tsai Ing-wen, whose New Southbound Policy aims to invigorate relations with 18 countries – Southeast Asia, South Asia, and New Zealand and Australia. The theme for 2017 is “New Taiwan Generation, New Southbound Vision.” The 75 international youth ambassadors selected have been divided into three delegations that will visit two countries each - the Philippines and Indonesia, India and Singapore, and Malaysia and Thailand - from August 28 to September 6, for 10 days of excursions and exchanges. Taiwan college students were chosen “to embark on voyages to friendly countries to give young people a more international perspective, leverage their creativity and point of view to promote Taiwan’s soft power, deepen cordial ties, and give full play to mutually beneficial strategy of steadfast diplomacy.”

To the Philippines and Indonesia, Taiwan sends “agriculture youth ambassadors” with focal demographic to select university students studying agriculture-related subjects and others with experience in agriculture The program seeks to help Taiwanese youth develop international connections and share Taiwan’s advanced agricultural technology.

The International Youth Ambassadors Exchange Program is ambitious in its hopes -to embolden Taiwan’s young generation to explore the outside world, to discover for themselves what it means for Taiwanese people to be responsible global citizens, and encourage them to assume a more proactive role on the international stage in the future. Taiwan is peculiar as a First World Economy without legitimate representation in the international world stage. ***

SO NEAR, AND YET SO FAR. Dr. Gary Song-Huann Lin, representative of the Taiwan Economic and Cultural Office (TECO), is the de facto ambassador of Taiwan in Manila. He was the Asia Pacific Director of the Taiwan Foreign Office when the PAL flight en route to the Middle East detoured to Taipei in a vain attempt to save Secretary Blas Ople who had suffered a heart attack. Despite the absence of formal diplomatic relations between Manila and Taipei, Dr. Lin and his office extended appropriate courtesies and assisted the Philippine officials in doing the needful for our Foreign Secretary.

Dr. Lin was pulled out of his European assignment and crossedposted to Manila to handle the challenges and opportunities of bilateral relations with Taiwan’s closest neighbor. Taiwan was the Philippines’ eight largest trading partner in 2016; while the Philippines was Taiwan’s 10th largest trading partner. He feels that both sides have only scratched the surface: “We are the closest neighbors, but in our mind-set psychologically, we are far apart. So [the youth] are the link for our nations to work together to enhance our mutual understanding…[to] actualize mutual understanding and cultural exchanges and even in educational cooperation.” Dr. Lin believes the Philippines, with a young population, with command of the English language, and computer-savvy, must be the natural partner with Taiwan. He sees great potentials from cooperation, especially in education and research, culture, tourism, trade and investment, agriculture, fisheries, information and communication, climate change, and small- and medium-sized enterprises.

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CAVEAT. TECO alerted the Philippine authorities to a principal it claims to be an economic criminal fugitive. TECO informed the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) of You Hao Chen’s highly risky investment projects and urged the Bureau of Immigration to deport Chen back to Taiwan to face prosecution. Chen, the former CEO of Tuntex Group in Taiwan, was prosecuted by the Taipei District Prosecutors Office for fraud, unlawful embezzlement, and other serious economic crimes. He has been indicted and wanted by Taipei District Court since January 14, 2014; but he escaped from Taiwan and fled to Xiamen, China. A circular order of arrest was issued on 14 January 2014 by the Taipei District Court during the Kuomintang (KMT) Administration to which Chen belonged as a KMT member. TECO underscored that the order was issued under the previous administration, not by the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Administration, as proof that the case is not politically motivated.

PEZA Director General Charito Plaza said the agency conducted its own background check on Chen and his company. PEZA urged the Taiwan government to take its concerns with Chen directly to the Chinese government.

So far, nothing has been heard on the matter or on the personality from Beijing. FEEDACK: joseabetozaide@gmail. com