On the morning of June 14th, Fiji time, Dr. Tinte Itinteang, Minister of Health & Medical Services of Kiribati, accompanied by Director Liu Zaichen of the Chinese Embassy in Fiji, visited the Confucius Institute at The University of the South Pacific (CI-USP). The teachers and students warmly welcomed the delegation. The Chinese and Local Directors led the delegation to visit the Confucius Institute Building and had discussions.
Dr. Akanisi Kedrayate, the Local Director of CI-USP, emphasized that with the strong support of the Chinese International Education Foundation, the Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, and other organizations, the CI-USP had gone through 10 years and had achieved specific achievements. Dr. Akanisi presented the "2022-2026 Strategic Plan" of CI-USP and elaborated on the future development in terms of value, mission, and vision.
Dr. Yang Hui, the Chinese Director, introduced the curriculum of CI-USP to the guests, and she also mentioned the students taking credit courses at the Kiribati campus and the planned online Chinese language courses at the Kiribati campus this semester. Then, she demonstrated various cultural courses of CI-USP.
Minister Itinteang was attracted by the rich cultural courses, saying that "the cultural courses are interesting, and if such courses are offered in Kiribati, they will be prevalent, especially the Chinese Cooking Class." The Minister said that there were already some doctors from China in Kiribati, and it would be more conducive to the communication with and understanding of their partners if the officials of the Ministry of Health & Medical Services could learn Chinese. For young people, learning Chinese was like a key for them to open the door to the world, they could understand and experience the world from multiple perspectives. He was delighted that the CI-USP could provide a variety of courses and he congratulated the CI-USP's achievements.
Dr. Akanisi said that cultural exchanges were diverse, language was one aspect, and medicine was another. Traditional Chinese medicine has a long history and profound heritage, while Fiji and Kiribati also have their own traditional medicine, which can bridge the cooperation. Regarding language training, the CI-USP is "always ready" and looks forward to establishing cooperative relations with Kiribati government departments, primary and secondary schools, etc.
