At the beginning of 2021, DG Fan welcomed the courtesy call of Aven Lin, Carl Shen, Stephanie Wu and Jonathan Liu, the new President and committee members of the Australian Taiwanese Friendship Association(ATFA), at Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Sydney. She also praised AFTA for its long term support and for passing down institutional values, passion and traditions throughout generations.
Ms. Lin emphasized that the AFTA will continue to promote “Taiwanese values” and Australia-Taiwan exchanges under the founding principles of democracy, freedom and humanity. The committee members also provided suggestions to enhance bilateral cooperation in areas such as higher education and agriculture.
Ms Fan pointed out Taiwan's remarkable achievement in Democracy, Public Health and Civility of people. The priority of Taiwan is to consolidate its strategic significance in the Indo-Pacific region and implement the New Southbound Policy. Under this framework, TECO in Sydney will keep strengthening cooperation between Taiwan and New South Wales in various areas, as well as furthering exchanges with think tanks and the media. “Overseas Taiwanese communities around the world are our best partners as we seek new international opportunities”, Ms Fan encouraged the AFTA to establish strong local network, and reaffirmed that TECO in Sydney is more than willing to join hands with Taiwanese communities to integrate locally, and reach out globally.