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On the morning of December 30, Vice President Chen Chien-jen visited the Taiwan Technical Mission, National Slaughterhouse, and feed mill in Palau to learn about the achievements mission colleagues have made for Taiwan's diplomacy and witness the concrete benefits they have brought to Palau.
After arriving at the Taiwan Technical Mission, Vice President Chen first received a briefing from Leader Chiang Yi-chan (姜義展).
In remarks, Vice President Chen stated that Mission Leader Chiang's report gave him a new appreciation for the vast differences in diet between different places and the ways technical missions can help change lives. We hope to help facilitate better health for the Palauan people, so we have an outstanding medical team here, he said. More importantly, he continued, we must begin by fostering better health, rather than waiting for people to fall ill before treating them. That is why the technical mission plays such an important role in spurring better health, he said.
Vice President Chen stated that the technical mission works hard in Palau, and he thanked them for their efforts and contributions on behalf of the government and people of Taiwan. He said that it was heartening to have them in Palau, and their presence would help bring our countries closer together and allow their people to feel the benefits of our friendship. Palau's tourism industry is quite important, he said, and the fruits our agricultural mission is growing here have greatly helped the tourism industry, including many of the locally promoted fruits we ate at last night's banquet. This also gives Taiwan an opportunity to showcase our prowess as the "Kingdom of Fruits," he said.
Vice President Chen pointed out that this past March when President Tsai was in Palau, the then Technical Mission Leader said that this year we have extended our experience with papayas and dragon fruit and introduced other tropical fruits such as mangoes, wax apples, and lychee to grow in Palau. If we can continue to expand this project, he said, the Palauan people will come to know more about Taiwan's fruits, their cultivation, and how to promote them. He expressed hope that the Palauan people would benefit from Taiwan's agricultural technologies and that they would bring about better health. This, he said, is the best way to show Taiwan's soft and kind power.
Vice President Chen expressed his belief that life is not easy for technical mission members in Palau, but their efforts have helped Taiwan plant a friendly seed in the hearts of the Palauan people, and he praised them once again for their contributions and dedication.
Vice President Chen and Mrs. Chen then tasted dragon fruit, guavas, papayas, and wax apples grown by the technical mission. They then inspected the mission's fruit and vegetable cultivation progress to learn more about how they are promoting technologies in Palau and the current supply of fruits and vegetables, a testament to the soft power of Taiwan's agricultural technology diplomacy. Vice President Chen also toured the National Slaughterhouse and feed mill to learn more about the implementation of the Taiwan-Palau Animal Production Project. He thanked everyone for giving their all for Taiwan and contributing to our ally.
ROC Ambassador to Palau Wallace M.G. Chow (周民淦) also accompanied Vice President Chen on the visit.
