On 26th April 2013, Representative Tseng travelled to Donegal to visit Letterkenny, the largest town in Ireland’s north-west and the region’s economic core. Representative Tseng was invited to make the trip by Senator Jimmy Harte, a local political representative and a long-time friend of Taiwan. Indeed, Senator Harte was a member of an Oireachtas delegation that travelled to Taiwan earlier this year.
In order to make the most of his time in Letterkenny, a full programme was arranged for Representative Tseng. This included an interview with a local radio station, a visit to the nearby Chamber of Commerce, meetings with the town manager, key officials and a representative from local fishery company, and finally a call at Letterkenny Institute of Technology (LYIT)
The busy itinerary began with Representative Tseng being interviewed by one of Ireland’s leading local radio stations, Highland Radio. Speaking to ‘The Shaun Doherty Show’, Representative Tseng talked broadly about the current economic and trade situation that exists between Ireland and Taiwan. He explained to listeners that there had been great developments in cross-Strait relations in recent years and these regional changes would impact greatly on international trade. This is an ideal time to promote and develop Irish-Taiwanese interaction, he said, and Donegal could benefit from pursuing greater linkages in areas like trade, education, science and technology, and tourism. In particular, Representative Tseng identified agriculture and fisheries as key sectors. He said that he was hugely impressed with Donegal’s strength in these areas and that there was enormous potential in exporting high quality food products to the Taiwanese market. This was largely untapped at present and Letterkenny could seize the opportunity. Afterwards, the phone lines were opened to the public and local listeners called in to share their own experiences of Taiwan. These were very positive in nature and a common thread saw Taiwan praised for its well developed service industry and its warm friendly people.
Next up was a visit to Letterkenny Chamber of Commerce, followed by lunch talk to local politicians, officials and business leaders. He highlighted that while Taiwan was an economic powerhouse in itself, it also had the potential to be a bridge to other countries in East Asia and a gateway into the vast Chinese Market. This is something long recognised by US and Japanese investors, and is a quality which has been further strengthened by the conclusion of an Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement between Taiwan and China. Representative Tseng said that Irish businessmen should recognise this and use it to their advantage. He also expressed his hope that Ireland and Irish businessmen would show their support for the signing of a Taiwan-EU ECA and bilateral agreement which could facilitate greater Irish-Taiwanese trade relations in the future. They then spoke and exchanged thoughts and ideas on ways to promote and advance education, culture and tourism
Finally, Representative Tseng paid a visit to Letterkenny Institute of Technology (LYIT) where he met with John Andy Bonar, Head of Development, and Jill Murphy from the Department of Law and Humanities. He used this opportunity to find out more about the training procedures and teaching methods being used at the third level institution as well as to learn about LYIT’s Chinese language programme. Representative Tseng commended the latter and spoke of the benefits of studying Chinese in Taiwan, and of the island’s welcoming nature. It was similar, he said, to learning English in Ireland. Keen to promote Irish Taiwanese educational exchanges, Representative Tseng also tried to raise awareness of the various educational initiatives run by the Taiwanese government and asked that LYIT encourage its students to apply for scholarships through the Taipei Representative Office in Ireland.
Representative Tseng’s visit to Letterkenny was very well received by the local media, and was the subject of a considerable feature in the local newspaper ‘Donegal News’ which can be seen below.
Representative Tseng and Senator Harte are interviewed by ‘The Shaun Doherty Show’
Representative Tseng and Senator Harte at Letterkenny Chamber of Commerce, with Chairman John Watson and CEO Toni Forrester
John Andy Bonar, Head of Development, presents Representative Tseng with a gift and welcomes him to Letterkenny Institute of Technology (LYIT)
Representative Tseng is pictured along with LYIT teachers and some students from the Chinese language programme
Local leaders in business, politics and education welcome Representative Tseng to Letterkenny. From left to right : Mrs. Harte; Mr. Pat Connors, Marine Harvest ; Mr. Paddy Doherty, Town Manager ; Senator Jimmy Harte ; Representative Tseng ; Mr. John Watson, Chairman of Letterkenny Chamber of Commerce ; Ms. Toni Forrester, CEO of Letterkenny Chamber of Commerce ; Ms. Catherine Cook, journalist of ‘Donegal News’ and Ms. Jilly Murphy, teacher on LYIT’s Chinese programme.
