Culture Minister Lung Ying-tai said on Thursday that her Ministry hopes to hold a forum with China to discuss necessary changes to cultural policies in an increasingly globalized and changing world.
'We hope to hold talks with Beijing soon to help bring about a forward-looking cultural forum spanning the Taiwan Strait,' Lung said at a press conference, where she put forth a blueprint for Taiwan's cultural policies.
Lung said the two sides could discuss whether a 'completely different approach' to cultural policies is needed in light of the world being affected by globalization, a decline in natural resources, and changes in population structures and class systems.
The time and location of the forum are open for discussion, said the Minister, who stressed that the forum should be held under 'mutual goodwill.'
Lung also said her Ministry will hold talks with the Ministry of Economic Affairs and other agencies to include more culture-related topics on the list of items to be negotiated in talks under the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA), signed between Taiwan and China in June 2010.
The Ministry of Culture will also work to ensure that an ECFA agreement on the protection of intellectual property rights is being carried out, Lung said.
Concerning a cultural agreement that China has expressed interest in signing with Taiwan, Lung said she thinks the forum should be held before the possibility of a cultural agreement is discussed.
She said her Ministry will continue to encourage existing private cultural exchanges between Taiwan and China and increase interactions among administrative personnel, such as museum workers, between the two sides.
Lung, who took office as Taiwan's first Minister of Culture on May 20, said on an earlier occasion that cultural exchanges between Taiwan and China will play an important part in her Ministry's cultural policies.