On Friday, April 12th, 2024, thirteen students from the Chinese Language Flagship Program accompanied by Taiwan Huayu BEST teaching assistants at the University of Hawaii （UH）at Mānoa visited Taipei Economic and Cultural Office（TECO）in Honolulu. Director General Richard Lin received them and introduced the main fuctions of the TECO in Honolulu. Deputy Director Jeff Li subsequently illustrated its consular services, while Deputy Consul Austin Kang elaborated on Taiwan Scholarship. Also in attendance were former UH Professor and Taiwanese community leader David Chen and Mr. & Mrs. Yanwei Pan, from the University of Hawaii Taiwanese Student Association, who later engaged in discussions with the Chinese language flagship students.

Director General Lin highlighted that TECO in Honolulu is dedicated to promoting exchanges and cooperation between Taiwan and state of Hawaii in areas such as trade, tourism, education, defense, and security; besides, TECO in Honolulu presents Taiwan's diverse culture, force for good and the island of resilience to various sectors in Hawaii, and facilitates bilateral relations between Taiwan and the United States through people-to-people exchanges. Director-General Lin pointed out that as a mature democracy, Taiwan shares common values such as freedom of speech and the rule of law with the United States. Taiwan serves as an ideal gateway for American students to learn Chinese and understand eastern culture. In the globalized world, fluency in Chinese not only brings more opportunities and competitiveness in future careers and life journeys but also enhances communication and understanding between different peoples and cultures.

Following his opening remarks, Director General Lin and his colleagues engaged in Q&A session with the students regarding consular services and Taiwan scholarships. The visit program lasted for 90 minutes, and the interaction was lively and harmonious. Director General Lin concluded by congratulating the Chinese Language Flagship Program students on their future endeavors in Chinese  learning. He also hoped that the students would broaden their vision into Taiwan's culture, history, and humanities during their study abroad in Taiwan and looked forward to meeting them again someday in Taiwan.

Director General Richard Lin (center front row in the photo) received a visit of students from the Chinese Language Flagship Program accompanied by Taiwan Huayu BEST teaching assistants at the University of Hawaii （UH）at Mānoa. Professor David Chen (2nd from left in the front row) also participated in to offer guidelines for students to study in Taiwan.

Students of the Chinese Language Flagship Program presented gifts to Director General Richard Lin (1st from right) and Professor David Chen (2nd from left).