Taiwan’s foreign ministry and Council of Indigenous peoples joined with partners from the US and Japan as co-hosts of a forum on revitalizing Austronesian languages.
The Austronesian languages form a large family that includes the languages of Taiwan’s indigenous peoples. The event took place Sunday in Palau, an allied Pacific island country that is home to Palauan, another Austronesian language.
The location of the forum was significant, as Palau is one of only four countries in the Pacific that continue to maintain ties with Taiwan. Fellow Pacific island nations the Solomon Islands and Kiribati cut their ties with Taiwan two weeks ago in favor of ties with Beijing.
The event was held under the auspices of the Global Cooperation and Training Framework, a US-Taiwan platform that allows Taiwan to share its expertise with Indo-Pacific partners through training sessions and workshops. Foreign ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou says that Taiwan will continue to work with the US to strengthen ties with South Pacific countries under the framework.