Culture Minister Lung Ying-tai on Monday defended the goals of the Taiwan Academies, which have been set up in three cities in the United States. She was speaking at the opening session of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee.
A lawmaker with the ruling Kuomintang (KMT), Chen Pi-han, questioned the role of the Taiwan Academies… that’s in light of criticism levied against China’s Confucius Institutes, which some say are more about politics than culture.
Lung responded by saying that the three Taiwan Academies – in New York, Washington, and Houston – are about culture, not politics.
"There are no political motives behind the Taiwan Academies; they use culture as a means for making friends in the international community," said Lung. "So in terms of content, what people will see is that the Taiwan Academies arrange Taiwan movie festivals, performing arts festivals, visual arts festivals. The content is all culture-related."