Ambassador Anne Hung of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Malaysia sends new year greetings via video to overseas Taiwanese and Chinese Malaysian friends in Malaysia. She thanks everyone for their joint efforts in bringing the friendly relations between Taiwan and Malaysia even closer, and looks forward to reaching a new height for the bilateral relations in post-pandemic era.
Ambassador Hung’s video message has been uploaded to our Facebook page. The content is as follows:
Dear overseas Taiwanese and Chinese Malaysian friends:
Due to the pandemic, I believe that everyone is celebrating this year’s Chinese New Year in a different way, complying with the epidemic prevention SOPs. In the past year, as we have been through the unprecedented challenges together, we have come to realize that safety and health are true blessings. Therefore, on the eve of saying goodbye to the year of the Rat and ushering in the year of the Ox, I would like to extend my New Year greetings to all our friends and offer my sincere wishes. I wish everyone to be as strong as an ox, immune from viruses, safe and healthy and all the best.
Thanks to our joint efforts, the relationship between Taiwan and Malaysia has become closer over the years. Under the "New Southbound Policy" initiated by Taiwan government, exchanges between our two sides in trade, investment, culture, education, and tourism, etc. have grown significantly in recent years. Malaysia has become Taiwan's best partner in Southeast Asia. According to the latest statistics issued by Taiwan Customs, not affected much by the pandemic, Taiwan-Malaysia bilateral trade in 2020 still reached nearly 20 billion US dollars. Malaysia is Taiwan’s seventh largest trading partner, and Taiwan is Malaysia’s fourth largest source of foreign investment, with a cumulative investment amount of more than 13.6 billion US dollars. In addition, people-to-people exchanges remain strong due to the close friendship between peoples of Taiwan and Malaysia. The number of Malaysian students studying for degrees in Taiwan's universities and colleges and the number of tourists visiting Taiwan are still the largest among Southeast Asian countries.
Taiwan has so far effectively controlled the spread of the pandemic thanks to joint efforts by the government and the people. Taiwan also donated epidemic prevention supplies to countries in need, including Malaysia, and conducted related cooperation, such as sharing epidemic information through video conferences. In order to explore business opportunities for cooperation between Taiwan and Malaysia, we held an online "Taiwan -Malaysia Industrial Collaboration Summit” to discuss how to provide Taiwan’s advanced technologies and opportunities in related fields. We also successfully organised virtual “2020 Taiwan Expo Malaysia “with more than 5,000 online visitors, creating business opportunities worth of more than 100 million US dollars. In addition, in an effort to continue to promote the exchange of education and culture between the two countries, we overcame difficulties and assisted many Malaysian students to go to Taiwan for further studies. Moreover, a Taiwan Studies project was established at the University of Malaya for the first time.
During the pandemic, online communication has become the new normal. Since the epidemic in Malaysia has not yet eased, there may be a wait for physical events to be held this year. I really miss the days when I participated in the activities hosted by local Chinese Malaysians organizations and Taiwanese community, enjoying intensive exchanges with you. In the past year, although I have fewer opportunities for face-to-face interactions with you, I feel grateful that our relationship based on the long standing friendship over the decades remains intact, for we all share a common goal. That is, we all aim to enhance exchanges and cooperation between Taiwan and Malaysia, hoping to continue to deepen, broaden and strengthen Taiwan-Malaysia relations through innovation and breakthroughs.
In closing, I sincerely wish everyone good health and good luck in the new year. I also hope that Taiwan and Malaysia will continue to strengthen cooperation and exchanges based on the existing solid foundation, and reach a new height in the post-pandemic era. Thank you and happy new year.