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| 美國在台協會（AIT）台北辦事處處長酈英傑22日舉行第四場，也是最後一場“四個增進”演說。(中評社 黃筱筠攝) |
中評社台北11月22日電（記者 黃筱筠）美國在台協會（AIT）台北辦事處處長酈英傑今天舉行第四場，也是最後一場“四個增進”演說，酈英傑強調他上任時就提出的主張，主要談的是“增進美台人民的關係”，這是他作為美國在台協會處長的四大優先目標。他演講內容仍是強調，美國與台灣關係過去四十年來蓬勃發展。最後他也強調，美台關係非常緊密，這些緊密合作就是美台基礎。
酈英傑演講中文全文如下：
大家早。謝謝各位今天前來聽我發表我的第四場、也是最後一場“四個增進”演說，要談的是“增進美台人民的關係”，這也是我作為美國在台協會處長的四大優先目標、也就是“四個增進”之一。跟大家複習一下，“四個增進”分別是：增進美台安全合作、增進美台經濟與商業關係、增進台灣在全球社會的角色，以及增進美台人民的關係。
一段特別的友誼
要討論美台人民之間堅實的關係，最好的例子可能就是台灣奧運英雄楊傳廣和美國田徑傳奇拉斐爾‧強生（Rafer Johnson）之間特別又出人意料的友誼了。
在冷戰的高峰時期，楊傳廣在1954年馬尼拉亞運拿下十項全能金牌、1958年東京亞運再度蟬聯冠軍，使台灣因此大放異彩。身為阿美族人，楊傳廣必須克服許多挑戰，才能參加1960年的奧運會。在不懂任何英文的情況下，他搬到了加州，在加州大學洛杉磯分校（UCLA）和奧運奪牌熱門選手強生一起接受訓練。強生幫助楊傳廣學英文，兩人互相幫助對方訓練，後來更成為了好友。1960年，他們兩人一起在羅馬奧運的十項全能比賽上同場較勁，最後強生獲得金牌，楊傳廣拿下銀牌；日後，楊傳廣更成為撐竿跳和十項全能運動的世界紀錄保持人。楊傳廣與強生成為終生的好友，直到他於2007年過世。他們兩人長久的友誼，可以說就是美台友誼在個人身上最好的體現。
過去四十年來，美台關係持續蓬勃發展。我對美台為促進雙方人民之間的情誼更加深厚所做的共同努力，感到十分驕傲。
美台人民情誼：堅實緊密、持續茁壯
在台灣，幾乎人人都有親戚、或至少是朋友在美國；相對地，每一天則都有八萬多名美國公民在台灣。美國是台灣旅客長途旅行的首選目的地；而在來台的外國旅客中，美國的排名則高居第八，是前十名的旅客來源地中、唯一一個不位在亞洲的國家。
我第一次派駐美國在台協會是在1980年代。我還記得當時信義路的辦公室外，申請簽證的隊伍總是大排長龍。這樣的日子已經結束了。今天，我們已經搬進位於內湖、斥資2.55億美元的新館，而台灣赴美的旅客大部分都能享有免簽證待遇。現在AIT每年仍然辦理大約34,000件簽證申請案，不過幾乎半數以上都是申請學生簽證。
根據本週稍早公布的“2019年國際教育交流門戶開放報告”（Open Doors Report，https://www.iie.org/opendoors），美國仍然是台灣學生海外留學的首選目的地，台灣赴美留學的學生人數已經連續四年成長。在2018-2019學年，就有23,369名台灣學生在美國的大專院校就讀，較前一年成長百分之4.1。台灣仍然是美國第七大國際學生來源地，領先日本、巴西和墨西哥。
今天，台灣由學術交流基金會及那原道（Randall Nadeau）執行長主持的“台灣傅爾布萊特計劃”，已成為全球規模最大的傅爾布萊特計劃之一，而AIT現在也正與“教育部”及“外交部”合作，為這項重要計劃提供更多支持。另外，台灣也在努力為全台各地的學生增加學習英語的機會；而AIT也正透過國務院的“英語研究員計劃”（English Language Fellow Program）及“英語教育專家計劃”（English Language Specialist Program），支持這些工作。
我也很高興看到有愈來愈多美國學生來台灣學習中文。上個月，我和“外交部”徐斯儉次長及來自美國12所頂尖大學中文語言課程的代表，一起在台大參加了“美國國家中文領航項目台灣中心”（Chinese Flagship Taiwan Center）的開幕儀式。台灣是學習中文的絕佳地點，我們很期待透過這項計劃與其他交流活動，像是“美國高中生華語獎學金計劃”（NSLI-Y）和“關鍵語言獎學金課程”（CLS），歡迎更多美國學生來台灣求學。
另一項我非常樂見關於美台人民的新活動，就是“人才循環大聯盟計劃”（TCA，https://www.talentcirculationalliance.org/），這是我們在今年稍早與“經濟部”一起推出的全新公私部門合作夥伴計劃。“人才循環大聯盟計劃”的目的是要培養大批有能力、與國際接軌並精通數位科技的專業人才，以促進台灣、美國及全印太區域的創新和繁榮。在自由且開放的印太區域促進人才的活躍交流，將能確保將投資與人才都牢牢地留在共享透明、法治與人權價值的民主社會。
總而言之，美台人民之間的情誼堅實緊密，並正持續茁壯。我們期待與台灣許多夥伴進行更多的合作，讓雙方人民的關係更上層樓。
第四場“數位對話”
2019年一整年，AIT也與台灣各機關合作，透過一系列的“數位對話”（https://www.ait.org.tw/ait-at-40/digital-dialogues/），聆聽台灣社會大眾的想法和意見。在我今天致詞之後，我們就會正式啟動第四場“數位對話”。本次對話要詢問台灣朋友的問題是：“美國和台灣應該做些什麼，來加深美台人民之間的情誼？”如果感興趣，只要上美國在台協會的網站，搜尋“數位對話”，就能找到參加方式。一月底，我們會舉辦一場特別的論壇，討論收到的各種建議。
最後，我想強調美台人民的情誼在美台關係中的重要性。美台人民之間的關係是將美國與台灣緊緊相繫的連結紐帶。透過觀光、移民、婚姻、學術與專業交流及現代通訊科技所培育出來的各種情誼，不只讓我們的人民非常親近，也傳遞了我們共享的價值。這些種種情誼的重要性更勝其他，是美台關係真正的基礎。
謝謝大家。
英文全文如下：
Good morning everyone. Thank you for joining me today for my 4th and final “Promote Speech,” which is on people-to-people ties, one of my four key priorities as AIT director – or sige zengjins. Just to review – these four promotes are: Promote the U.S.-Taiwan security relationship, promote the U.S.-Taiwan economic and commercial relationship, promote Taiwan’s greater role in the international community, and promote U.S.-Taiwan people-to-people relations.
A Special Friendship
The strength of our people-to-people relationship is perhaps best captured by the story of the special and, perhaps unlikely, friendship between Taiwan Olympic hero CK Yang and U.S. Track and Field Legend Rafer Johnson.
Yang put Taiwan on the map at the height of the Cold War by winning gold medals in the decathlon at the Asian Games in 1954 in Manila and again in 1958 in Tokyo. As a member of the Ami tribe, he had to overcome many challenges to attend the 1960 Olympics. Without knowing any English, he moved to California to train at UCLA with Rafer Johnson, the Olympic favorite. Johnson helped Yang with English, they trained together, and eventually the two became great friends. They competed against each other in the decathlon event at the 1960 Olympics in Rome, with Johnson winning the gold and Yang the silver. Yang would later go on to become the world record holder in both the pole vault and the decathlon. Yang and Johnson remained close friends until Yang passed away in 2007. This longstanding friendship between Yang and Johnson is one example at a personal level of U.S.-Taiwan friendship.
Over the last forty years, this relationship has continued to grow, and I am proud of the work that the United States and Taiwan are doing together to promote even stronger people-to-people ties.
Our People-to-People Ties: Strong and Growing
It is hard to find anyone in Taiwan who doesn’t have relatives or at least friends in the United States, and, on any given day, there are more than 80,000 U.S. citizens here. The United States is the #1 long-haul destination for Taiwan travelers, and the United States is now the 8th-highest source of tourists to Taiwan, the only country in the top 10 outside of Asia.
I was assigned to AIT for the first time in the 1980s, and I can remember the long visa appointment lines outside of our offices at Hsin Yi Road. Those days are over. Today, we have moved to a new $255 million-dollar office in Neihu, and most Taiwan travelers can go to the United States visa-free. AIT still processes about 34,000 visas each year, and almost half of these are student visas.
According to the 2019 Open Doors Report (https://www.iie.org/opendoors) released earlier this week, the United States remains the number one overseas destination for Taiwan students, and, the number of Taiwan students in the United States has increased for the 4th consecutive year in a row. During the 2018-2019 academic year there were 23,369 Taiwan students at U.S. institutions, up 4.1 per cent from the previous year. Taiwan remains the seventh largest source of international students in the United States, ahead of Japan, Brazil, and Mexico.
Today, Taiwan’s Fulbright Program, managed by the Foundation for Scholarly Exchange and led by Executive Director Randall Nadeau, is one of the largest Fulbright Programs in the world, and AIT is working with the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to provide even more support for this important program. In addition, Taiwan has committed to expanding English language opportunities for students across the island, and AIT is supporting these efforts through the State Department’s English Language Fellow and English Language Specialist Programs.
I am also pleased to see more and more students from the United States coming to Taiwan to study Mandarin. Last month, I joined Deputy Foreign Minister Dr. HSU Szu-Chien (徐斯儉) and representatives of Chinese language programs from 12 leading U.S. universities for the opening ceremony of the Chinese Flagship Taiwan Center at National Taiwan University. Taiwan is an excellent place to study, and we look forward to welcoming more and more U.S. students to Taiwan through the Flagship program and other exchanges, like the National Security Language Initiative for Youth or the Critical Language Scholarship Program.
One of the new people-to-people initiatives that I am most excited about is the Talent Circulation Alliance (https://www.talentcirculationalliance.org/), a new public-private partnership that we launched with Taiwan’s Ministry of Economic Affairs earlier this year. The goal of the TCA is to cultivate a deep pool of capable, internationally connected, and digitally savvy professionals to advance innovation and prosperity in Taiwan, the United States, and across the Indo Pacific Region. Vigorous talent circulations in the free and open Indo-Pacific will keep both investment and talent firmly anchored in democratic societies that share values of transparency, rule of law and human rights.
In sum, people-to-people ties between the United States and Taiwan are strong and growing. We look forward to building on these ties through even more cooperation with our many partners in Taiwan.
Introduction to the Fourth Digital Dialogue
Throughout 2019 and in cooperation with the Taiwan authorities, AIT has been welcoming the thoughts and ideas of Taiwan’s general public through the Digital Dialogue series (https://www.ait.org.tw/ait-at-40/digital-dialogues/). After my speech today, we will officially launch our fourth Digital Dialogue. This Dialogue asks the people of Taiwan to respond to the question: “What should the United States and Taiwan do to promote even closer ties between our people?” To participate, simply go to the AIT website and search for “Digital Dialogues.” At the end of January, we will hold a special forum to discuss the suggestions we receive.
To close, I would like to underscore the importance of the people-to-people dimension in the U.S.-Taiwan relationship. People-to-people ties are the connective tissue that binds together the United States and Taiwan. Bonds are formed through tourism, immigration, marriage, academic and professional exchanges and modern communication technologies that not only keep our people close but also transmit our shared values. Taken together, these ties, more than any other, are the real foundation for the U.S.-Taiwan relationship.
Thank you. |
