Tien, Chung-kwang
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs
Republic of China (Taiwan)
February 17, 2022
(As Prepared for Delivery)
Ladies and gentlemen:
Good evening!
On behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of China (Taiwan), it is a great pleasure to join you all at tonight’s dinner banquet.
Established in 1966 and driven by a spirit of innovation, CTBC Bank has grown into an international force offering a wide array of financial services.
Moreover, in support of the New Southbound Policy, CTBC Holding has proactively expanded its overseas business in recent years, leveraging its existing branches to attain substantial achievements. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, CTBC has donated 10 million NT dollars to Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, and India through its local branches. This has been used to purchase urgently-needed PPEs and medical supplies.
Taiwan was fortunate to have learnt from its 2003 SARS experiences to quickly deploy effective control measures for containing the spread of COVID-19. Committed to being a force for good, Taiwan initiated the campaign of international humanitarian assistance when the supply of our domestic medical resources were sufficient, delivering surgical masks and other medical supplies to our friends in the U.S., Japan, Canada, India, ASEAN and many more countries. And we are truly grateful, when vaccines became the key to fighting the pandemic, our like-minded countries responded quickly by donating large amount of vaccine doses to Taiwan.
To date, Taiwan received more than 24 million doses from our international friends. It well demonstrated the spirit of a friend in need is a friend indeed. On behalf of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, I would like to say that we are all deeply touched when seeing such virtuous cycle being strengthen and Taiwan will continue making contribution whatever we can in the post-pandemic era.
In closing, I wish you all the best of health and happiness, and a prosperous future in all endeavors. Thank you!