Taiwan must build cultural literacy
By Manoj Kumar Panigrahi
Since the introduction of the New Southbound Policy during President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) first term in 2016, there has been building momentum toward increasing people-to-people exchanges between Taiwan and the policy’s 18 partner countries. While the government’s attempt to improve relations with these countries is admirable, there is a significant gap in Taiwan’s cultural knowledge of them. To narrow the cultural literacy gap, Taiwan needs to start cultural education as early as kindergarten.
New residents and migrant workers from these target countries in South Asia and Southeast Asia are particularly vulnerable in Taiwan.