President Tsai Ing-wen visited the Daxi Cultural and Health Station in Taoyuan's Daxi District today (March 21), accompanied by Vice Premier Cheng Wen-tsan and Icyang‧Parod, the Minister of the Council of Indigenous Peoples, to observe the station's operations. This was her first visit to a cultural and health station in the metropolitan area. President Tsai pointed out that the number of indigenous people living in the metropolitan area is increasing yearly, and Taoyuan City has the second-highest indigenous population in the country, with a total population of over 80,000. Therefore, providing appropriate professional care services to meet the cultural needs of elderly indigenous people in the metropolitan area has, in recent years, become an important direction for the government's long-term care policies for the indigenous people. Today, she came to listen to the daily lives of elderly indigenous people at the cultural and health station, learn from the caregivers' experiences accompanying them, and share a meal with the elderly at the station to understand the meal service regularly provided.
Icyang‧Parod, the Minister of the Council of Indigenous Peoples, stated that, as of 2023, there are 481 cultural and health stations established nationwide, with 76 in the metropolitan area, compared to only 9 in 2016, showing remarkable growth. Vice Premier Cheng Wen-tsan also stated that during his eight-year term as mayor of Taoyuan City, the number of cultural and health stations increased significantly from 5 to 35, made possible with the support of President Tsai and Minister Icyang‧Parod. Icyang‧Parod further explained that the reason cultural and health stations can develop rapidly in the metropolitan area is due to President Tsai's directive in 2017 to transfer the cultural and health station budget from Taiwan Lottery feedbacks to the Long-term Care Services Development Fund, and the Council of Indigenous Peoples also expanded the establishment of cultural and health stations from tribal areas to the metropolitan area in the second half of 2017, enabling indigenous people living in both tribal and the metropolitan areas to receive care from cultural and health stations and continue the traditional mutual care culture.
Furthermore, Minister Icyang‧Parod pointed out that the Council of Indigenous Peoples also subsidizes the construction of the "Indigenous Language Broadcasting Building" in Taoyuan's metropolitan area, made possible due to the promise made by President Tsai to find a home for employees of the Indigenous TV station during the 2016 election campaign. The building is scheduled to be completed in 2025. In addition, the Council of Indigenous Peoples is also subsidizing the construction of the "International Indigenous Cultural and Creative Industries Park" next to the building, expected to be completed by the end of 2023, which will allow more people to learn about the cultural industries of indigenous people.