Taiwan established 29 centres to teach Mandarin in India

SEVERAL OF THE MANDARIN CENTRES CREATED BY THE TAIWAN GOVERNMENT ARE IN PRIVATE UNIVERSITIES

- Rezaul H Laskar

Taiwan has helped create 29 Mandarin language centres at leading universities across India, including the Rashtriya Raksha University in Gujarat, to help train more people in the Chinese language, people familiar with the matter said.

The move comes at a time when there is renewed interest in Mandarin amid the dragging standoff with China on the Line of Actual Control (LAC), especially among India's security agencies. Mandarin also continues to be among the popular languages, along with French, German and Spanish, for young officers of the Indian Foreign Service (IFS).

Several of the Mandarin language centres created by the Taiwan government are in private universities, in view of the funding needed to attract experienced teachers, the people said on condition of anonymity. Most of these centres have one or two Mandarin teachers, they said.