Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen’s New Southbound Policy has raised awareness of the South Asian and Southeast Asian countries that it targets, but is struggling to strike meaningful deals in the face of mounting Chinese diplomatic and economic opposition.
The News Lens
Date: 2017/10/20
By: Kwei-Bo Huang
In search of greater regional connectivity, Taiwan’s ‘New Southbound Policy’ (NSP)
Photo Credit: Reuters/達志影像
has progressed from the research and planning stage to large-scale implementation.
The NSP has been one of the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) signature policies since President Tsai Ing-wen took office in May 2016. It is an inter-regional initiative calling for more attention to be given to 18 countries across Southeast Asia and South Asia, as well as Australia and New Zealand.
The NSP, viewing India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam as the prioritised countries, faces obvious political barriers resulting from Taiwan’s restrained ties with countries in the region and sour cross-Strait relations. Consequently, while the Office of Trade Negotiations plays a crucial and probably leading role with individual NSP target countries, the Tsai administration claims to have relinquished the leading position to Taiwan’s business and industrial sectors.
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