At the weekly Cabinet meeting on Thursday, Premier Lai Ching-te welcomed exciting news from Taiwan's culture industry as three local works earn top accolades and honors around the world.
In motion pictures, "On Happiness Road" won Grand Prize in the feature animation category of the Tokyo Anime Award Festival 2018, while "The Great Buddha+" was featured at the New Directors/New Films festival in New York. In literature, "The Stolen Bicycle" was named to the 2018 longlist for the Man Booker International Prize. These artists, writers and their outstanding performances have brought some of the highest honors to Taiwan's cultural world, the premier touted.
All the works feature Taiwan as the background for their creative subjects. Their ability to appeal to wider international audiences attests perfectly to the expression "the more local, the more global," Premier Lai added. Taiwan offers a diverse profusion of creative material in fields ranging from history and politics to society and culture, but its openness to artistic creation is a far more precious asset.
On March 8 the Executive Yuan approved draft amendments to the Law for the Development of the Cultural and Creative Industries, as well as a bill for the establishment of a cultural content promotion institute. Using the concept of a "national team" to develop Taiwan's cultural content industry, the government will provide firm support for bright Taiwanese artists and spotlight more of Taiwan's outstanding works for the world to see, the premier pledged.
Moreover, respect for the freedom of creativity and expression is an essential foundation for cross-strait cultural industries and cultural exchanges. Censorship mechanisms will hinder the freedom of artistic creation, but true cultural liberty will only benefit cooperation and exchanges between the cultural industries on both sides of the Taiwan strait, Premier Lai said.