Taiwan’s Overseas Community Affairs Council has set up a digital platform that has allowed it to continue offering services to overseas Taiwanese people through the COVID-19 pandemic.
During an interview with RTI on Wednesday, council head Tung Chen-yuan said that the platform offers overseas Taiwanese people and Taiwanese businesses abroad access to medical help, financial help, and emergency assistance.
In addition, Tung said that the council has helped Taiwanese people living abroad get through the pandemic with financial aid, health consultations, medical supplies, online business courses, and classes for children. It has also created an online series of Chinese language learning courses aimed at the school-aged children of Taiwanese people living abroad.
Tung said that in the future, the council will make spreading access to Chinese language learning overseas a goal. He said that with international backlash against China’s Confucius Institutes mounting, Taiwan now has an opportunity to make a bigger imprint on Chinese language education worldwide. Tung highlighted plans to turn existing schools for overseas Taiwanese people into language centers and use Taiwanese teachers and resources to bring Chinese language education into the mainstream in the US in particular.