The Cabinet announced on Tuesday the founding of the Sports Development Council to boost the funding and profile of sports in Taiwan.
The council is to be headed by Chang Ching-sen and will have 12 places for non-officials. These are to include the country’s top men’s tennis player, Lu Yen-hsun; former national baseball team star Chao Shih-chiang and Wu Ching-kuo, an executive member of the International Olympic Committee.
Premier Lin Chuan said the council will have five main goals to improve sports in Taiwan. He said, "The Sports Development Council will play a national role in the development of sports, with five main strategies: first, to improve sports administration; second, to encourage businesses to invest in sports; third, to link up with international sporting affairs; fourth, to make sports more deeply rooted in Taiwan and finally to take care of the professional careers of our competitors. With these five goals I hope we can bring about a healthy citizenry, achieve excellence in sporting competition and bring vitality to Taiwan."
Lin said that the government at present spends only around 0.4% of its budget on sports but he hoped funding could be increased through cooperation with the private sector. The premier also said he hopes to see more international sporting events take place in Taiwan, such as invitational athletics meetings and road cycling events. He also said the government will do more to bring the country’s sporting facilities up to international standards.