Taipei, Oct. 13 (CNA) Despite an economic recession which has cut into government revenues, President Chen Shui-bian stressed Sunday that government spending on education and scientific research will not be decreased.
Chen made the remarks during a meeting with Robert Berdahl, president of the University of California at Berkeley, who is currently on his second visit to Taiwan.
Citing the Cabinet's "Challenge 2008: six-year national development plan, " Chen said the government aims to increase its educational and scientific research spending from the current level of 2.05 percent of GDP to 3 percent of GDP, an annual growth of 10 percent, in an effort to improve the country's international competitiveness.
In addition to hailing U.C. Berkeley as a prestigious institution for advanced academic pursuits which has nurtured 17 Nobel Prize laureates, President Chen called the university a gateway to Pacific-rim countries and a stronghold of East Asian studies thanks to its multi-ethnic background and diverse academic achievements.
For instance, Lee Yuan-tseh, a Taiwan-born Nobel Prize winner in chemistry who now heads Taiwan's top research institution--Academia Sinica--was also an outstanding graduate of U.C. Berkeley, Chen noted.
Lauding Lee as the perfect envoy to represent him at the unofficial leaders' summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum slated for Oct. 26-27 in Mexico, Chen described Lee as the common pride and glory of Taiwan and U.C. Berkeley.
Berdahl echoed Chen's remarks by expressing pride in the many remarkable U.C. Berkeley students from Taiwan. He also revealed that a library and research center on East Asian studies currently under construction will be named after former U.C. Berkeley President C.L. Tien, an ethnic Chinese American, in recognition of his contributions to the university.
Some 45 percent of current U.C. Berkeley students are of Asian origin, he added.
Berdahl expressed the hope that bilateral cooperation and exchanges between Taiwan's academic and research sectors and his university will be further enhanced, including in the fields of nanotechnology, biotechnology and information technology.