Pupils Interview the Representative for Taiwan in the United Kingdom

David Y.L. Lin, Taiwan’s Representative in the United Kingdom, was delighted to host a meeting with a group of ten pupils from King’s House Preparatory School, accompanied by their headmaster, Dr. Andrew Cook, and answer questions relating to Taiwan. The meeting took place at the Taipei Representative Office in the U.K. headquarters in central London on January 14, 2020.

King’s House Preparatory School and Nursery is a mixed-gender independent school for children aged between two and eleven years old, located slightly north of London. It has a multi-cultural ethos and aims to foster a spirit of independence, inquisitiveness and confidence among its pupils. This was the second time that pupils from the school have travelled to the Taipei Representative Office in the U.K. for a meeting of this kind.

The questions posed by the school pupils focused mainly on Taiwan’s economy: its GDP, trade, and the importance of the technological sector. The young interviewers were also interested in health and social care policies, education standards, popular sports, tourist attractions, the high-speed rail system and Taiwan’s approach to tackling climate change.

Representative Lin provided many corresponding facts and figures for the United Kingdom in order to illustrate the similarities and differences between the two countries and give the pupils a better understanding of Taiwan, and personnel from the Press Division and Education Division who were also present at the meeting provided some additional details. These comparisons also served to demonstrate Taiwan’s impressive global economic rankings, particularly considering the respective populations of Taiwan and the United Kingdom.

After the interview session, the pupils were invited to take part in a quiz based on what they’d learned that day to win prizes related to the approaching lunar New Year celebrations. They were also encouraged to apply for scholarships when they were older to study in Taiwan and experience all it has to offer for themselves.