2021-03-06
DPP Hosts the “New Southbound Winter Camp” for 2nd Generation New Immigrants and Overseas Taiwanese
From March 6th to 7th, the DPP's International Affairs Department will hold the 2-day "2021 New Southbound Winter Camp," bringing together over 20 second-generation new immigrants and overseas Taiwanese students. The camp incorporates people from diverse backgrounds, including Vietnamese, Indonesian, Malaysian, and Pakistani, coming from 9 cities and counties in Taiwan, ranging from high school to college students.
DPP's Deputy Secretary-General Lin Feifan, at the camp's opening ceremony, stated that the Tsai Administration has always been devoted to promoting the New Southbound Policy and multicultural education. At this camp, the DPP wishes to lead the attending students towards a better understanding of the history of Taiwan's exchanges with Southeast Asian and South Asian countries and to have a clearer understanding of the government's policy, hoping students can share some suggestions on such policies. The DPP also hopes to guide everyone in learning Taiwan's inclusiveness and culture, thereby fostering closer ties between Taiwan and its new southbound neighbors.
Deputy Secretary-General Lin Feifan mentioned that Taiwan, throughout its whole journey, has experienced the numerous hardships of transitioning from an authoritarian nation to a democracy. Taiwan is not just an important democracy in East and Southeast Asia, but also a welcoming multicultural society. Strong and flexible democratic representation means much more than just a fair and impartial election, more importantly, includes the coexistence of diverse cultures within one country. Lin also pointed out that the DPP International Affairs Department's current personnel possess overseas experiences and multilingual abilities, including English, Japanese, German, French, Russian, etc. Still, he expects more young people with New Southbound countries backgrounds to join the department and bring different perspectives.
DPP Spokesperson Peifen Hsieh stated that the DPP had held the well-praised "Road to Democracy Summer Camp" many times, offering foreign students an opportunity to foster a deeper understanding of Taiwan's democratic development. This time, the DPP hosts an event directed towards students with backgrounds from the new southbound countries for the first time. Such students, possessing the unique advantage of knowing two native languages and having a multicultural background, are extremely important international talents for Taiwan's future. For this reason, the International Affairs Department of the DPP specially invited accredited lecturers from the fields of diplomacy, politics, history, psychology, and more to speak at the camp. These lecturers include the DPP Director of the International Affairs Department, also current legislator, Dr. Lo Chi-cheng, Professor Alan Yang of National Chengchi University's Institute of East Asian Studies, retired professor of Psychology at National Taiwan University Lili Huang, Chief Editor of Linking Publishing Feng-en Tu, Southeast Asian diplomats and trade negotiators stationed in Taiwan, and more.
Spokesperson Hsieh said that students were eager to sign up, but due to the pandemic, DPP had to reduce the scope of the project. During the 2 days of the camp, all members will be strictly required to abide by the pandemic prevention protocols. The DPP looks forward to everyone deepening the connection between Taiwan and the youth of new southbound countries in a safe environment.
