Taiwanese Teen Diplomatic Envoys

Since 2002, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) of Taiwan has annually selected a group of teenage envoys from local Taiwanese high schools to promote their home country overseas. This group of Taiwanese youths is called the R.O.C Delegation of Teen Diplomatic Envoys (外交小尖兵). They are given a rare opportunity to travel and visit Taiwan’s representative offices overseas, governmental and non-governmental organisations, as well as cultural and educational institutions in different nations. The purpose of the event is to give an opportunity for the Taiwanese high school students to develop their English-language skills and worldview.

This year, our school Bina Bangsa has been chosen to be one of the many destinations for these Teen Diplomatic Envoys to visit. On 9 February 2017, 5 students from BBS KJ, accompanied by 2 of our Chinese teachers, went to the BBS PIK campus to attend this event. Our principal, Mr. Lee TJ, along with the BBS PIK principal and representatives from the Taiwanese Embassy, were also present at the event.

The event started with an introductory session about Indonesia and about our school by the BBS PIK students. They highlighted the amazing scenery and wildlife of our country and our schools’ best accomplishments, especially in terms of academics. Afterwards, the Taiwanese high school students introduced themselves & their respective high schools, which are Taipei Municipal Jian Guo High School (an all boys school), National Wu Ling Senior High School and Ming Dao High School. There were 12 Taiwanese students in total. The next activity was the talent show. The Taiwanese students performed the songs Tian Mi Mi (甜蜜蜜), Taiwan the Heart of Asia & Grandma’s Penghu Bay (外嬤的澎湖灣). They sang and danced on stage, while 2 of them played music instruments. Then, there were 3 performances from the BBS PIK students. The Dance CCA students performed a Chinese dance performance, several secondary students performed traditional Chinese music instruments and some students performed the song Zhong Guo Hua (中國話). The last performance was from our BBS KJ students, who performed the songs Starving and Almost is Never Enough. All the performances were very entertaining and it helped each school showcase the students’ talents. Lastly, the Taiwanese students and BBS students brought gifts to be exchanged with each other and exchanged a few words. The students made some new friends and had exciting conversations, which is surely a great experience.

Veronica, a student from JC1 Tyndale who participated in the event, agreed that it was a memorable experience.

“I felt excited about meeting the students from Taiwan… I’m glad that I was able to make friends with them”, she said.