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to successfully coordinate funding, human resources
and technologies, channeling these resources using
four implementation methods: lending and investment,
technical cooperation, education and training, and
humanitarian assistance. This comprehensive project
implementation strategy not only provides an effective
framework for Taiwan’s international cooperation
and development but also allows Taiwan to share its
experiences and assist developing partners in improving
their standard of living while successfully expanding
Taiwan’s diplomatic space in the international arena.
In 2009, Taiwan published its first White Paper on
Foreign Aid Policy establishing a legal, transparent and
professional system of foreign aid. This document lays
out Taiwan’s core foreign aid policy. In June 2010, the
government promulgated the International Cooperation
and Development Act, clearly defining the content,
objectives, and operating principles underpinning Taiwan’s
international cooperation and development affairs. In more
recent years, Taiwan has continued to amend relevant
laws and regulations to promote more rigorous and
efficient aid operations.
Since 2010, the TaiwanICDF has also implemented
a series of reforms designed to establish a professional
and results-oriented approach toward cooperation and
development and foster a vision and direction for the
organization over the next decade. These reforms are
being carried out with the hope of developing operational
objectives, allocating resources and bringing priority
areas of comparative advantage into focus that accurately
reflect the organization’s mission and core values.
Playing to Taiwan’s Advantages and Helping
Partners to Develop Sustainably
In today’s turbulent, dynamic world, where natural
disasters, food shortages, and global economic
difficulties are commonplace, rich and poor countries,
whose destinies are interwoven due to globalization,
have a common interest in helping one another. As a
responsible stakeholder in the international community,
Taiwan should be more actively involved in foreign aid
work.
In addition to providing emergency aid and relief
to partner countries during natural disasters, Taiwan
should be playing to its advantages and making use
of its experience from past successes in the area of
international aid. In its priority areas of agriculture,
public health, education, environmental protection, and
information and communications technology, Taiwan
should be planning medium- to long-term cooperation
projects that help elevate incomes, reduce poverty,
and improve the standard of living in developing
partner countries. Taiwan should actively cooperate
with international organizations to promote regional,
bilateral, and global cooperation while continuing to
extend a helping hand to developing partners. All of these
activities will allow Taiwan to give back to the international
community, fulfill its social responsibility to the world, and
demonstrate its soft power to the global village.
Although Taiwan is not a member of the UN and can
occasionally be obstructed in the international arena, it
must continue to adhere to its core policy of “partnerships
for progress and sustainable development.” Through
more effective foreign aid efforts, Taiwan can continue to
strengthen its relationships with existing partner countries
and build new friendships with other countries.
It is my deepest hope that the TaiwanICDF can
continue to serve as Taiwan’s “platform for international
cooperation and development.” I believe that through
professional, transparent, and reliable aid projects, the
TaiwanICDF can continue to effectively unite the resources
and strengths of government departments and the private
sector, strengthen international cooperation, assist friends
and developing partners in their economic development,
and enhance international friendships and foreign
relations. By persistently making breakthroughs and
bringing projects to fruition, the TaiwanICDF will always
have a bright future ahead of it, filled with promise.
David Y. L. Lin
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Chairman of the TaiwanICDF
