Former essayist Lung Ying-tai kicked off her first day as Taiwanese culture minister yesterday by vowing to set up a system that would cultivate cultural officials able to resist political influence.
'Cultural policies should never serve political purposes,' the island's first culture minister said.
Lung, a former cultural critic well known in Taiwan, Hong Kong and on the mainland, was appointed by President Ma Ying-jeou in January to head the Council for Cultural Affairs, which was tasked with establishing a Ministry of Culture on the island.
The independent-minded Lung, who had been Ma's first cultural bureau director from 1999 to 2003, when he was still mayor of Taipei, said cultural officials should be knowledgeable, internationally informed and, most importantly, able to think for themselves.
'Ruling political parties can come and go, therefore it is highly important for cultural officials to have a will of their own, so they are able to withstand political influence and carry out cultural work without being hampered by those heading the new ruling party,' she stressed.
Lung said she strongly believed that politics should serve cultural policies, rather than the other way around.
She said it was necessary to bear in mind the importance of having culture play a major role in the government's policymaking, especially in the areas of education, foreign relations, economics and industrial policies.