Int'l YouTubers invited to promote Taiwan proven successful: MOFA

Taipei, April 8 (CNA) A quartet of foreign YouTubers invited to tour Taiwan for a week last month as part of a government-funded promotional campaign has generated more than 35 million views, a senior Taiwanese diplomat said Tuesday.

Catherine Hsu (徐詠梅), head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' (MOFA) Department of International Information Services, said the ministry had invited internet celebrities from two of the nation's diplomatic allies, namely, Paraguay and Guatemala, and one each from the Czech Republic and Israel to travel around Taiwan from March 16 to 22.

According to Hsu, the four -- Yolanda Park from Paraguay, Allisson Valdez from Guatemala, Eylon Levy from Israel and Monika Zavrelova from the Czech Republic -- have traveled to Taiwan's trademark skyscraper, the Taipei 101 Building, the historical former trading port of Taipei, Dadaocheng, and eastern Hualien County to experience Taiwanese aboriginal culture, cuisine, and tea culture.

The YouTubers from the two allies have also enjoyed Guatemalan coffee and Paraguayan beef rolls with Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍).

Meanwhile, Czechia and Israeli YouTubers have joined Deputy Foreign Minister François Wu (吳志中) to visit Taiwan's Taipei Mandarin Experimental Elementary School to learn about a pen pal program the Taipei school has with an Israeli elementary school and to enjoy a round of traditional Czechia music performance staged by the school's Chinese orchestra, she added.

During and after their week-long visit to Taiwan, the four YouTubers have released more than 200 social media posts on their respective social media platforms, attracting more than 35 million views in total since, the MOFA official said.

Hsu said the viewership has proven MOFA's ongoing campaign in inviting foreign internet celebrities to Taiwan to promote the country globally has been a success and the ministry will continue to do so in the future.

She added that such efforts to invite online celebrities to promote Taiwan aimed at target audiences different from those reading traditional news media, to expand ordinary people and the younger generation's understanding and awareness of Taiwan.