Vice President Hsiao hosts banquet for traditional Palauan leaders

On the evening of June 8 local time (afternoon of the same day Taipei time), Vice President Bi-khim Hsiao hosted a banquet for traditional Palauan leaders. In remarks, Vice President Hsiao noted the Austronesian cultural links between Taiwan and Palau, adding that both see the ocean as a home. She stated that on the strong foundation of the quarter-century of friendship between our two peoples, Taiwan and Palau will continue to collaborate in several areas. The vice president expressed hope that, as we are in an age of geopolitical challenges, globalization, and AI, we can find a balance between advancing technology and traditional values, so that we can keep our identities alive and flourishing.

A transcript of Vice President Hsiao's remarks follows:

It is such an honor to be able to act as host because I have been enjoying the Palauan hospitality throughout this trip so far. But it is an honor to have this opportunity to engage with the traditional leaders of Palauan society. As I said this morning at the National Congress, I think we are not separated by waters, but instead, the waters connect us; the oceans connect us. And part of that connection is deep cultural roots, bounded by the Austronesian heritage that has taken root in Taiwan, but also around the Pacific region. And many Taiwanese, or indigenous communities in Taiwan, have managed to find their relatives all over the Pacific, including here in Palau.

For tonight's occasion, I am dressed in a shirt designed by a traditional Taiwanese indigenous artist of the Paiwan tribe. There are 16 recognized indigenous groups in Taiwan, just like you have 16 states. But the 16 recognized groups are because they have distinct languages, cultures that have been carried on over the generations.

Unfortunately, we used to have many more indigenous communities and tribes in Taiwan that have, over time, lost their heritage. And therefore, it has been a priority of our government to support the revitalization of languages and cultures in our indigenous communities. And we have recently passed laws to legislate all of the indigenous languages that have also become our national languages.

Now, I used to serve in a community or district in Eastern Taiwan. It is a community that also has many indigenous groups. And I have enjoyed and appreciated the diversity and culture that they generate and share with the people of Taiwan. Now, they have been outstanding musical performers and also sports players. And of course, among the many areas of exchange and collaboration between Taiwan and Palau, exchanges in sports and co-training - that is, exchanges between the baseball teams of Taiwan and Palau - are something that I had the honor of witnessing upon the first day of my arrival here in Palau.

But it is a true honor to be able to represent the president and the people of Taiwan in coming here. Now, this is my first official visit to a diplomatic ally since I became vice president. And I am so pleased that Palau is my destination because of the beauty, the attractions, the warmth of the people here, and all the ties that have been evolving over the years from our former presidents' days and the deepening roots that have been carried on not only through government ties, but also through traditional cultural connections, as well as our civil society.

You know, I always run into Taiwanese people who tell me - especially recently since I announced that I was coming here - everybody has a story about Palau. About how many times they have been here, about how many friends that they had dinner with, also about the beauty of this place. And also, I have heard from younger people who have taken part in some educational exchange programs, and some have also volunteered here as part of their learning experience. So, there is so much going on.

And of course, based on the strong foundation of the quarter-century of friendship between our two peoples, that of course includes collaboration in some of the infrastructure projects. I visited some today. I was also able to witness some of Taiwan's collaboration with Palau on the island of Peleliu a few days ago, including transportation networks that connect communities to each other.

Like Palau, as I said, in the constituency I used to serve, indigenous communities - some are high in the mountains, some are by the ocean - but we need transportation networks to bring us closer together. And I am proud to say that Taiwan has contributed to 68 percent of the land roads that connect the people of Palau with each other.

Another important area of collaboration - and I just visited our technical mission this afternoon - involves agriculture and also aquaculture in supporting sustainable fisheries that can be used not only as sustenance food, but also as economic activity of the Palauan people. And among the agricultural products that our technical mission is supporting, I am told that the favorite fruit is the dragon fruit, especially the red dragon fruit, and also the guava. But as part of our agriculture cooperation, we are honored to be able to support healthy lunches for the students in public schools of Palau with the efforts and collaboration of our technical mission.

But they do not only [do] agriculture. They also conduct education and language exchange programs. They are also working on mapping the ocean or the fishery ecosystem using AI and big data to help Palau govern your natural resources. And with the data, it would give all of us a better understanding of areas that require greater protection and of areas that could be balanced with more tourism and economic activities. This is very valuable data as both of us are ocean nations, and we have a responsibility over stewardship of our oceans around us, especially the oceans that have been such an important part of our culture.

And of course, speaking of culture, ocean countries and the peoples of ocean countries tend to be much more open-minded. We look at the ocean as our home, and we are open-minded, we are friendly, we are warm, and hospitality is part of our DNA. And so I am very glad that you are able to join us tonight for this event, for us to have an opportunity to thank the Palauan people over the hospitality for this delegation. And this has been a wonderful trip so far. We have many more activities planned tomorrow, including visiting the fishery and aquaculture center.

We are also looking forward to extended work and collaboration on promoting sustainable tourism, which was an assignment that our president gave me for this trip. And we were brainstorming ideas with the Vice Minister Lin [Ching-yi] (林靜儀) here - she is the Vice Minister of Health - over how to put our Palauan scenery into the karaoke songs, the videos for karaoke in Taiwan, and to attract more Taiwanese to Palau. But I am certainly not the only advocate for Palau. There are many advocates of Palau in Taiwan, many people who have already experienced the beauty and the warmth of Palau, and we will continue to work on those.

And finally, again, back to the cultural connections between us, the Austronesian links between us. I think this is a very valuable area. It is a priority of our government to revitalize these cultures in Taiwan, and I believe there are many opportunities for us to work together, to learn from each other in how to support and sustain the traditional cultures. As we are in an age of all kinds of geopolitical challenges, globalization, AI, artificial intelligence, and finding that balance between advancing technology and also our traditional values is critically important in keeping our identities alive and flourishing. Thank you again for joining us tonight, and it is an honor to meet all of you.

Also in attendance at the dinner were Queen Bilung Gloria Salii and several Palauan chiefs.