Taipei, Feb. 1 (CNA) President Chen Shui-bian encouraged local publishers Thursday to join forces with the government to build Taiwan into the pivot of the Chinese publishing industry.
Chen made the appeal at the opening of the Ninth Taipei International Book Exhibition (TIBE 2001), Asia's largest book fair.
The president said he is very pleased to see major publishing companies from 46 countries and areas around the world come all the way to Taiwan to take part in the book fair. Noting that the 21st century marks an era of intense competition and integration, Chen said nearly all major countries have made the upgrading of national competitiveness their priority national goal.
To cope with the challenge of the prevailing globalization trend, Chen said the Republic of China is also pushing for industrial transformation and upgrading, particularly the development of knowledge-based economy.
As the publishing industry forms the basis for various "knowledge industries," Chen went on, local publishers should use new thinking and adopt a two-pronged approach to help develop Taiwan into a promising, vibrant and knowledgeable society.
On the one hand, Chen said he hopes local publishers can introduce fine foreign publications into Taiwan to help cultivate local people's global vision and refine their tastes. Meanwhile, he encouraged local publishing houses to introduce literary works created by domestic writers to the international community. "By so doing, we'll be able to turn a new page in the history of our publishing industry," he added.
Chen further said that with the concerted efforts of the Government Information Office (GIO) and local publishing houses, the number of countries participating in the book fair has increased steadily over the past 14 years.
"The expansion of the scale marks progress in our publishing industry, which will in turn contribute to Taiwan's bid to become the pivot of the Chinese book market and a stronghold of the Asian publishing industry," he noted.
A total of 886 publishing houses from 46 countries and areas are participating in the six-day book fair in the first and second exhibition halls of the Taipei World Trade Center. Several countries, including Austria, Denmark, Thailand and Vietnam, are taking part in the event for the first time.