TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — U.S. lawmakers urged Secretary of State Antony Blinken to complete the establishment of the Taiwan Fellowship Program signed into law by President Biden in December 2022.
In a letter penned on Wednesday (May 15), Senators Ed Markey, Marco Rubio, Ron Ryden, Dan Sullivan, John Cornyn, and Jeffrey A. Merkley called on the U.S. Department of State and the American Institute in Taiwan to work with Taipei’s National Development Council, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), and Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office to sign an agreement or exchange of notes “as soon as practicable” to allow its first fellows to arrive in Taiwan by the end of 2024.
The proposed two-year Taiwan Fellowship program was included in the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, which mandates its creation within 30 days of its enactment. However, the lawmakers lamented that the program was not yet a reality.
“Through this program, U.S. government employees from a broad range of agencies related to economic and security issues will have the opportunity to go to work in Taiwan, deepening ties between Washington and Taipei," they said.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), President-elect Lai Ching-te (賴清德), and MOFA have all expressed support for the Taiwan Fellowship Program, the lawmakers noted.
In their first year, participants will study Mandarin and move on to work in the Legislative Yuan or a Taiwan government agency in their second year. All fellows must serve four years in the U.S. government upon completing the program.
The lawmakers described the program as “a tangible manifestation of a principled foreign policy committed both to supporting a key democratic partner and building a generation of American foreign affairs professionals with needed expertise on Taiwan.”
The program's core is based on the Mansfield Fellowship Program, which was established in 1994 and allowed American civil servants to work inside Japanese government ministries and NGO offices primarily in Tokyo.
