Taiwan’s winners at WorldSkills Competition 2022 offered prize money

Taiwan’s winners at WorldSkills Competition 2022 offered prize money

2022-12-12

The WorldSkills Competition 2022 took place in 15 countries across Europe, the Americas and Asia between Sept. 7 and Nov. 26. Taiwan’s contestants for the vocational skills competition won six golds, 13 silvers and six bronzes in total, ranking third globally for the number of medals won. The competition tests contestant’s abilities in areas such as automobile technology, beauty therapy, and plastering and drywall systems. To recognize the winners’ accomplishment, the Ministry of Labor on Monday held a ceremony to hand out cash prizes to the winners.

Wrapped in the national team’s flag, contestants for Taiwan rushed to the stage when announced a winner at the WorldSkills Competition 2022.

Some on Team Taiwan took the oath in Taiwanese Hokkien, so the world could hear one of Taiwan’s native languages. Even Premier Su Tseng-chang was touched by this simple gesture.

Su Tseng-chang
Premier
The contestants took the oath in Taiwanese, like Chang Chien-hsiung. That’s impressive. You did it in your mother tongue, and did it so fluently in front of the whole world. I believe your own mother was happy, and so were the Taiwanese people.

At the WorldSkills Competition 2022, Taiwan’s national team bagged six golds, 13 silvers, six bronzes and 17 medallions for excellence, ranking third for the number of medals won. This was also Taiwan’s best showing ever at the competition.

Hsu Ming-chun
Minister of labor
This year we will hand out more than NT$33 million in prize money. We’re all very happy to hand out the prizes, and hope that we’ll do even better. Apart from the cash prizes, there are also scholarships for the winners. The education ministry also has a selection procedure in place for members of our national team, for them to become teachers at vocational schools.

Apart from the cash prizes, the contestants also stand a chance to become public school teachers to pass on their skills.

"2022國際技能賽"台獲6金蘇揆出席頒獎

2022-12-12

"2022國際技能競賽"，今年9月7日至11月26日於歐、美、亞洲15個國家陸續展開，台灣代表團總共獲得6金、13銀、6銅和17優勝的好成績，總獎牌數名列世界第三，勞動部今天特別舉辦頒獎典禮，行政院長蘇貞昌、勞動部長許銘春都出席頒獎典禮，慰勞他們的辛勞。

宣布獲獎那一刻，參加2022國際技能競賽的國手們，紛紛披上台灣會旗，衝上舞台領獎。

也有人上台宣誓時，特別講台語，就是要讓世界看見台灣，就連前來頒獎的行政院長蘇貞昌，都深受感動。

[[行政院長蘇貞昌]]
“選手宣誓用台語，張建雄實在不簡單，你用你媽媽教你的話，在世界的人面前說得那麼通順，我相信你媽媽一定很高興，台灣人也覺得很高興”

算一算，2022國際技能競賽代表團，總共獲得6金、13銀、6銅，還有17優勝，總獎牌數名列世界第三，也刷新了歷年紀錄。

[[勞動部長許銘春]]
“今年獎金會發出3300多萬獎金，我們都覺得很開心，發獎金發得很開心，希望越多越好，我們其實除了獎金，還有一些升學保送，教育部也特別有針對國手，他們經過一些甄審程序，就可以到學校去擔任技職的教師”

除了頒發獎金，這些國手也有機會成為老師，讓他們的技能繼續傳承。

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China has continued to suspend imports of some Taiwanese agricultural products. Critics say Taiwan’s central government had not prepared well enough for an expected shift in China’s customs rules. On Sunday, Deputy health minister Victor Wang said that Beijing not responding to Taiwan’s attempts to discuss the matter.

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It’s frustrating. China is the one who’s doing bad things, and not respecting World Trade Organization rules. But in the end, people in Taiwan just blame the government. Under these circumstances, Taiwan’s government has to work hard and do more.

Among the 2,409 companies affected, about 1,800 say they won’t try to resubmit the documentation, saying they don’t want to put their trust in China again. The central government is launching policies to market the products in Japan and Southeast Asia.

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Trade between Taiwan and China has fallen to just 30% of what it used to be. It’s a very clear drop. We have experience in selling seafood products in other countries. Those attempts were successful, because China is not actually Taiwan’s biggest export market for seafood. That title is actually Japan’s.

The remaining companies will be assisted by three government agencies. The Council of Agriculture will advise businesses on processing their products in Southeast Asia, sell them domestically, as well as tapping into new markets. The Ministry of Economic Affairs will assist processing firms with matters such as loans, and utilizing the internet to sell products. The Ministry of Finance, which governs alcohol sales, will try to help companies take part in international competitions, as well as hold exhibitions in Taiwan to boost sales and competitiveness.

Yen Hui-hsin
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China often uses these so-called “administrative barriers” to disturb trade. The key to respond is to spread the markets of Taiwan’s exports, to sell the products in other markets. I think Taiwan has already seen some success in that. The government hopes to set up an inter-ministerial management mechanism to export and process seafood products.

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Member of public
Young people today rather dislike him, so I think it’s better to remove his statues.

Member of public
They’re like antiquities, no need for removal.

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The key to successfully implementing transitional justice in Taiwan is not money. Rather, it’s public opinion, whether it supports and accepts transitional justice or not. So I think this has to be done through education. Once everyone has a good understanding of democracy and Taiwan’s history with authoritarianism, then the statues celebrating autocracy will gradually disappear from our lives.

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Lowering the costs to institutions should be helpful in promoting the removal of authoritarian symbols. I hope our education can emphasize anti-authoritarianism, so that it takes root in the hearts of people. Only that can prevent an authoritarian regime from taking over again.

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