Four of the latest batch of 2017 Taiwan Fellowship recipients delivered their research presentations July 4 at National Central Library in Taipei City, elaborating on key subjects related to the country spanning culture, humanities, media and policymaking.
Organized by the Republic of China (Taiwan) Ministry of Foreign Affairs, this year’s edition of the program involves 133 scholars and experts from 42 countries and territories each carrying out three to 12 months of research at 73 tertiary education institutions nationwide. A total of 693 fellows from 70 countries and territories have participated in the program since its launch in 2010.
During an address at the event, MOFA Minister David Tawei Lee said the program is helping promote international academic cooperation and establishing an international community of opinion leaders with experience in Taiwan.
“It is encouraging to see the steadily improving quality and quantity of the program’s research projects, as well as its growing international recognition,” Lee said, adding that the undertaking is connecting scholars and researchers from around the world while building bridges between different cultures.
The presentations comprised those by France-based Barthelemy Courmont, a professor at French Institute for International and Strategic Affairs; Indonesia-based Maria Indira Aryani, an associate professor at National Development University Veteran East Java; U.K.-based Kristina Karvelyte, a doctoral student at the University of Leeds; and Jonathan Sullivan, director of the China Policy Institute at the University of Nottingham.
Courmont outlined the impact on Taiwan of France’s foreign policy under recently elected President Emmanuel Macron; Aryani examined the New Southbound Policy and its various challenges and opportunities within the framework of Taiwan-Indonesia cooperation; Karvelyte identified factors influencing cultural policies in Taipei by reviewing policy documents and interviewing local advisers, academics, cultural experts and officials; and Sullivan tracked the foreign media’s coverage of Taiwan over the past 20 years through studying more than 18,000 articles in 65 international English newspapers.
According to Lee, the program also represents the government’s pragmatic approach to enhancing Taiwan’s international participation and safeguarding the national interest. “Through peaceful means and benefit-sharing, we strive to make Taiwan a model of new Asian values, highlighting democracy, social justice, an innovation-based economy and proactive steadfast diplomacy,” he said. (KWS-E)
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