At the 2014 Youth Policy Union National Conference today, Premier Jiang Yi-huah stated that he has seen Taiwan's enormous creativity and vitality while interacting with the island's young people.
Jiang affirmed that young people are the hope of the nation and encouraged them to fully unleash their idealism, passion and creativity to help transform society and bring Taiwan a brighter future.
"Young people are dynamic, idealistic and creative. The proposals they come up with and their means of implementation are often quite different from those of civil departments. This can help the government see national development policies from the youth's perspective," the premier said at the event, which was organized by the Ministry of Education.
Several proposals made by youth have been adopted in the past and have ceaselessly propelled the administration and the nation forward, Jiang noted.
Much criticism of young people is in fact overgeneralization based from individual cases, indicated the premier. He emphasized that many of the youths he has met are very idealistic, passionate and creative and are striving to create their own futures. Such progressive attitudes and qualities must not be discredited or smeared, he emphasized.
The premier cited his experiences in his talks with young entrepreneurs as a case in point: many of them, aside from being concerned about national public issues, are also eager and passionate to contribute to their hometowns even though the living conditions and work opportunities there cannot match those of major metropolises, he said.
These young people have decided to return home to take the batons from their elders and transform traditional industries by employing new knowledge and technology, remarked Jiang, who said he was deeply moved by their passion and innovation and considered them incredibly outstanding and admirable.
Today's conference was conducted in two phases. In the first, reports were delivered to the premier and central ministry officials on the regional youth conferences' conclusions and propositions on five major issues of concern for young people: society, culture, the environment, education and the ROC's international situation.
These reports were delivered by national youth representatives who had been nominated at the four regional conferences, which were held in northern, central, southern and eastern Taiwan, respectively.
After hearing the reports, relevant ministry officials responded to the representatives' queries and propositions, and finally the premier summed up the answers to all the questions.
In the second phase, the floor was opened to questions from both online and on site, and the premier directly interacted and exchanged opinions with the participants.
This event differed from past conferences chiefly in the utilization of live webcast technology, Jiang pointed out, adding that through the webcast more people online felt like they were truly at the event.
In the future, the government will also seek out various other channels and innovative means to hear youths' views, and it will continue striving to understand the aspirations and opinions of people from all walks of life and every corner of Taiwan, the premier promised.