To enrich Taiwan’s multi-cultural environment, the National Immigration Agency (NIA) called up 13 young generation of new immigrants in Taiwan to establish a group of goodwill ambassadors. On January 26, 2021, Minister of the Interior, Kuo-Yung Hsu, met these youngsters to encourage them to utilize their expertise in language and culture to bring more interactions among cultures in Taiwan.
Minister Hsu said, “Taiwan has many cultures; Taiwanese people are open to receive and accept differences in culture, which is highly valuable and precious.” The population of new immigrants and their children in Taiwan has exceeded 1 million. The NIA has long assisted the new immigrants and their children with scholarships and empowerment projects that allow them to obtain professional skillsets and grow deeper understanding about overseas cultures. By now, the new immigrants and their children have become essential part of Taiwanese society.
Minister Hsu also awarded and acknowledged the SongShan Cihui Temple, which has offered great supports to the NIA’s projects in recent years. The 13 student goodwill ambassadors, aged from high school to university, were nationally selected in 2020. The group had undergone 1-year of empowerment courses, including self-exploration, voluntary services, and public performance.
These student ambassadors represent new power of Taiwan. For example, Mr. De-Yao Liu, whose mother was overseas Chinese in Vietnam, lived a multi-lingual life as a child. Now Mr. Liu is a Chinese- major in university, fluent in Vietnamese and Cantonese. Liu is also a radio host who often shares his viewpoint about cultural aspects between Vietnam and Taiwan. Mr. Liu considers the role of ambassador a good chance to engage with other fellow mates who, like him, owns multi-cultural background.
Another example is Mr. Guo-Yang Tseng, a vocational college student who majors in vehicle repair. Tseng developed his interests in building model bus by hands. This specialty had given him chance to make interpersonal connections and therefore started a small business. When asked about being a student ambassador, Mr. Tseng takes the role as duty to encourage other second-general of the new immigrations to find their self-confidence and self-affirmation.
For years, the NIA has endeavored to enhance friendly international environment for foreign residents in Taiwan, including setting up funds, scholarships and empowerment projects that provide resources for the new immigrations and their children. In the future, perhaps some of them will become immigration officials and empower Taiwan.