Taiwan details New Southbound Policy – targetting South Asia, Southeast Asia, Oceania

August 22, 2016

TAIPEI - Guidelines for Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy have been approved during a meeting on foreign trade strategy convened by President Tsai Ing-wen. The guidelines set out a path for Taiwan to forge closer ties with countries in South and Southeast Asia, as well as Oceania.

Presidential Office spokesman, Alex Huang, said the long-term goals of the policy are to strengthen Taiwan’s economic, technological and cultural links with Southeast Asia, South Asia, Australia and New Zealand to promote the sharing of resources, talent and markets.
The initiative also aims to create a comprehensive mechanism for negotiations and dialogue to effectively resolve differences, and to build trust and consensus.

The short- and medium-term goals of the New Southbound Policy are to facilitate increased exchanges with the targetted nations on investment, tourism, culture and human resources, encourage Taiwan companies to explore opportunities in these countries in line with the Government’s new economic development model, develop the local talent pool to facilitate the growth in interaction with these regions, and to expand bilateral and multilateral dialogue to enhance economic co-operation and to tackle disputes.

The guidelines also list 10 implementation standards, including actively participating in international co-operation, collaborating with the private sector on boosting Taiwan’s exchanges with the regions, revising related laws and regulations, and drawing up risk management procedures.

They also state that the Government should work to define Taiwan’s economic role in the regions, establishing it as an innovator and service provider, while actively bolstering links with targetted countries through increased business collaboration, people-to-people contacts, soft power promotion and supply chain integration.

Huang said that because Taiwan and mainland China both have a responsibility to promote regional peace and prosperity, the two sides could exert greater influence if they co-operated. Taiwan did not rule out holding discussions with mainland China on related issues to ensure that the New Southbound Policy and the cross-strait relationship complemented each other, he added. www.taiwantoday.tw (ATI).