d)
e)
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contact between the Taiwan authorities and Departments
other than FCO and MOD is less sensitive. If a suitable
occasion arises, I recommend that we allow Taiwan
Ministers to meet British Cabinet Ministers from such
Departments.
we have recently agreed that our cultural presence be taken
over the the British Council. The Anglo-Taiwan Education
Commission (ATEC) was set up in 1988 with the aim of
encouraging more Taiwan students to study in the UK. It
was funded by educational institutions (who subscribed to
its service), industry and grant-in-aid from the FCO.
Although housed in the same building it was completely
separate from ATTC. It was intended to become
self-financing within three years, but this proved not to
be possible (although the number of Taiwan students in the
UK has risen from a handful to around 3,000). With effect
from 1 April 1993 the British Council agreed, with much
encouragement from the FCO, to take over the running of the
ATEC. The British Council hope to extend its role into English Language Training and the organisation of cultural
visits and tours.
f)
this change provides the opportunity of further enhancing
our Taipei operation by integrating our cultural presence
with the ATTC so that they hve a similar relationship to that between the British Council and many of our overseas
posts. At the same time we would like to get rid of the
anachronistic "ATTC" and rename the whole operation
something like the "British Trade and Cultural
Office/Centre". As part of a major policy review on the
Asia/Pacific region, we are also looking at the possibility
of reinforcing the staff in Taipei by adding another DS
officer (at grade 7) to Taipei in FY 1996/7.
SBTAIWAN
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