The Executive Yuan has approved the National Hakka Development Project (國家客家發展計畫) drawn up by the Hakka Affairs Council (HAC) on June 15, building a national team of Hakka policies through inter-ministerial collaboration instead of relying on a single ministry to promote Hakka affairs.

The approval of the project not only reflects the central government places a high value on the development of Hakka language and culture, respect for the collective benefits of the Hakka community, and ethnic mainstreaming strategic thinking, but also symbolizes that Taiwan has reached a new milestone in the process of implementing multicultural policy.

The first phase of the three-year-long project is based on Article 6 of the Hakka Basic Act, focusing on national Hakka affairs and regional development planning. The project was drafted after receiving the opinions from the participants of the National Hakka Conference, the result of nearly two years of multi-level, multi-faceted, and cross-ministerial coordination and communication. It is now approved by the Executive Yuan and will serve as the basis of Hakka-related policies for government agencies at all levels.

According to HAC, making policies on a certain racial group and promoting related affairs are often regarded as the very ethnic ministry’s responsibility, for instance, the Hakka Affairs Council and Council of Indigenous Peoples dealing with ethnic matters separately. Hence, cultural citizenship of minority groups is easily neglected in the administration of other government departments.

It is believed that, after the implementation of the National Hakka Development Project, the administration of various ministries will have more Hakka perspectives. For example, the use of Hakka language can be added to public information services of various ministries. In addition to the disadvantaged groups, policies on social welfare can take the heterogeneity of the Hakka community’s cultural characteristics into consideration. Regarding the planning of land, roads, and transportation, the integrity of Hakka settlements and regional development can be taken into account. The launch of the National Hakka Development Project is to break through the restrictions of the administrative framework and make Taiwan's ethnic policies "inter-departmental."

The first phase of the project reveals four major goals, including designating the Hakka language as a national and common language, deepening the Hakka knowledge system to link up to the country’s historical memories, completing infrastructure for Hakka regional revitalization to promote Hakka Renaissance, and cultivating the global Hakka network to expand Hakka cultural diplomacy.

The strategy is to establish a public domain for cross-ethnic dialogue, so that government agencies at all levels will be racially competent, recognizing the cultural differences and needs of ethnic groups, and then take these factors into account when making various regulations, plans and measures. The overall governance of the government will thus have more warmth for the Hakka community while facilitating the Hakka sustainable development.