KEY POINTS:
Taiwanese primary schoolboy Chi Yung Hsun is excited at the possibility of learning to speak Maori and perform the haka.
Chi, one of 26 Taipei students who arrived in Auckland yesterday as part of a "city diplomacy mission", had just been told about the theory that Maori originally came from Taiwan, and said he couldn't wait to find any similarities between the two cultures.
"I am so excited about learning the Maori culture and also to share my culture with New Zealand children."
For the next week, Chi and his mates will be touring Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, visiting schools and putting on public performances of the traditional sports and martial arts they practise. These include diabolo spinning, shuttlecock kicking, rope skipping and kung fu.
While it may be just fun and games for them, the divisional director of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office, Chiang Wang, says they are here as "little ambassadors of Taiwan to New Zealand".
Since New Zealand ceased diplomatic ties with Taipei in 1972, sports and performing arts have been the only ways to make diplomatic contact.
Since Taipei lost its United Nations seat to Beijing in 1971, and the United States established diplomatic relations with China in 1979, Taipei is left with just 23 diplomatic allies, mostly poor nations in Central America, Africa and the Pacific.
New Zealand is one of 170 countries with diplomatic ties with China and not Taiwan.
Mr Chiang said: "We have a saying that children are the future backbone of a country, and this is one way we hope to continue maintaining a good relationship with New Zealand in the years to come."
Tonight, the group will stage their first public traditional folk art performance at the Waipuna Hotel in Mt Wellington.
