DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/15 June) – Taiwan wanted to forge stronger cooperation with the Philippines in various fields under incoming President Rodrigo Duterte, a Taiwanese envoy said Tuesday.
“I believe in Duterte leadership (that) your new administration will further continue to enhance and expand our cooperative and friendly relationship,” Gary Song-Huann Lin, who met with Duterte last Monday at the Malacañang of the South, told reporters on Tuesday in Davao.
He said the Philippines and Taiwan are “longtime friends” but he is hoping to strengthen their relationship in agriculture, aquaculture, education and other areas.
He said they are encouraging Taiwanese businessmen to visit the country to look for talented workers as he acknowledged the contribution of the overseas Filipino workers to Taiwan’s economic growth.
Lin said that in the field of education they wanted to widen the learning experience between Taiwanese and Filipino students and teachers through exchanges.
He named four schools – University of the Philippines, University of Sto. Tomas, Ateneo De Manila University, and De La Salle University – where their delegations had immersed so “we can strengthen exchanges of professor and students” to enhance mutual understanding.
He said efforts have been undertaken in Taiwan to give Filipino workers equal treatment in terms of medical coverage, insurance, and other benefits.
China considers Taiwan a renegade province and has always warned it against declaring independence from the mainland.
The Philippines has maintained a one-China policy.
On Monday, Duterte also met with Ambassadors Philip Goldberg of the United States, Asif Ahmad of the United Kingdom and Thomas Ossowski of Germany. (Antonio L. Colina IV/MindaNews)
