Taipei City Government

A delegation comprising students and faculty members from the School of Humanities and Social Sciences of Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University (NTU Singapore) arrived at city hall for a visit on January 13.
Headed by the Deputy Director of Nanyang Centre for Public Administration Zhang Zhibin, the visiting delegation includes 16 graduate students from the institution’s “Contemporary China” program, as well as members from Singapore government’s education and defense ministries.
The group was received by Deputy Mayor Chou Li-fang and other city officials. She welcomed the guests on behalf of Mayor Ko Wen-je, sharing her views with the guests on the mayor’s policies based on the principle of “open government, public participation.”
During the meeting, the students asked the deputy mayor about the 2014 local election’s impact on Taiwan’s political scene, and how major events and social movements over the past two years (anti-nuclear protests, death of military conscript Hung Chung-chiu, and Sunflower Movement) influenced politics.
According to Chou, the public should look upon party alternation in a positive light and under a larger context. Political change came about as a reflection of the overall public opinion, which is influenced by factors such as the views of the younger generation, rise of political powers not aligned with the two major parties, and shifts in public trust.
She added that people taking a look at today’s political trends one hundred years from now would probably cite the student movement of March 18 as a major turning point, reigniting young people’s interest in politics.
NTU Singapore is a well-known public university with strong emphasis on research. The school is involved in many partnership programs and collaboration efforts with major universities and institutions around the world.