The Ministry of Culture's (MOC) efforts to maximize its resources to promote Taiwan abroad can serve as an exemplar for other agencies to follow, Premier Jiang Yi-huah stated today.
"The MOC's Spotlight Taiwan Project features breathtakingly colorful and diverse contents and can fully display the island's soft power and the cultural sector's outstanding achievements before the eyes of the world," he stated.
The premier made these remarks at the Cabinet meeting today after the MOC reported on its overseas promotion of Taiwanese culture and soft power by establishing overseas "spotlights" of cultural diplomacy.
Jiang particularly affirmed the MOC for working around the government's increasing budget constraints by proactively soliciting private contributions and encouraging institutions collaborating on the project to also provide funding.
In the one year and 10 months of the plan's promotion, the MOC has already secured US$4 million in donations to be made over the four years of the program (2013-2016). The ministry has also signed contracts of cooperation with 31 well-known universities and cultural institutions, including the University of California, Berkeley (USA), Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art (UK), Cinematographic Lightbox (France) and Yomiuri Culture Center (Japan).
These universities and institutions have become Taiwan's overseas spotlights, forming a dense network of partnerships to promote Taiwan's culture, complement the Taiwan Academy, and build up Taiwan's worldwide cultural deployment, said the ministry's officials.
The 31 spotlights are spread across 13 countries or areas in Europe, North America and Asia. These partners have hosted a rich variety of activities: their 487 related cultural exchange events to date have included arts and literature forums and workshops; music, dance and theatre performances; exhibitions; movie screenings; establishments of art colonies; and literature readings and festivals.
For instance, the Ca' Foscari University of Venice promoted Taiwan's contemporary arts, movies and literature at the local mainstream arts festival, giving many Italian speakers greater exposure to Taiwanese culture.
The Tokyo University of the Arts held a Taiwan-Japan lacquerware exchange exhibition to introduce Taiwan's cutting-edge creations in the field to Japan's elite art circle. This exhibit earned complimentary reports from the Fuji Television Network and publications for professionals, such as Art Annual, bringing Taiwan's arts and culture further into the international mainstream.
Although the MOC has deployed 31 cultural spotlights around the world, this number pales in comparison to the work of other countries and areas, the premier said. He asked the ministry to extend its reach and spread spotlight projects to places like Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia, Latin America and Central Asia.
In addition, Jiang enjoined the MOC to make good use of the strengths of overseas ethnic Chinese communities, whose representatives can learn about the Spotlight Taiwan Project when returning to Taiwan for conferences. Moreover, diplomatic personnel can be informed about the program prior to being posted abroad or while in Taiwan for debriefing and training. Overseas community members and foreign service staff can then cooperate closely with each other to advance the initiative abroad.
The premier also reminded other agencies that the Spotlight Taiwan Project and the MOC's many other overseas cultural exchange initiatives will require the assistance and collaboration of other ministries. In turn, the MOC must strengthen its horizontal coordination with other related agencies—such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Education, Overseas Community Affairs Council and Tourism Bureau of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications—to strive for resource integration and incorporate the strengths of overseas communities in order to augment the overall efficacy of Taiwan's cultural diplomacy, he said.
The nation has already entered an era for bolstering its cultural soft power, the premier affirmed, and he expects relevant ministries and agencies to work hand-in-hand and go all-out to advance this initiative.