At the Cabinet's weekly meeting Thursday, Premier Su Tseng-chang said Taiwan's unique political and economic history has given rise to a diverse array of priceless and precious cultural expressions. Tangible or intangible, all cultural assets are foundational to the establishment of the nation's cultural subjectivity, serving to trace the development of society and record the people's collective memory.
The premier's remarks followed a Ministry of Culture (MOC) briefing on efforts to preserve and bring the nation's cultural assets to life. He asked government agencies to work together to help citizens better understand and cherish their homeland.
As an indication of the importance of cultural assets, the government has formulated a comprehensive set of laws and regulations while injecting more resources into the field. The budget for cultural asset preservation will more than quadruple from NT$1.3 billion (US$40.2 million) in 2016 to NT$5.3 billion (US$173.9 million) in 2020, helping to preserve, revitalize and pass on Taiwan's cultural heritage.
Efforts to preserve and revitalize tangible cultural assets have expanded from individual site restoration to systematic preservation on a regional and comprehensive scale. For intangible assets, meanwhile, efforts are focused on consensus building, talent cultivation, and provision of exhibition and performance venues.
The MOC outlined four strategies for a mutually beneficial marriage of cultural preservation to local and national development policies: strengthen the preservation of state-owned cultural assets, establish a governance system for cultural assets, revive the cultural environment, and raise awareness of cultural asset preservation. Systematically integrating cultural preservation policies in this manner will create a public governance system that helps support cultural preservation programs.