The Executive Yuan and negotiators from the Ministry of Economic Affairs will now be in charge of implementing the policy.
The News Lens
Date: 2016/09/02
By: J. Michael Cole
One day after news that New Southbound Policy Coordination Office head James Huang (黃志芳) is to
Photo Credit: Reuters / 達志影像
become Taiwan’s representative to Singapore, reports emerged on Friday that the Office, a major initiative of the Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) administration, was to be absorbed by the Executive Yuan. Later on Friday evening, a spokesman for the Presidential Office added precisions to the initial reports.
Lo Chih-cheng (羅致政), director of international affairs at the Democratic
Progressive Party (DPP), told reporters on Friday that the Office was to be merged with the EY. The EY was to work with trade negotiators from the Ministry of Economic Affairs to implement the New Southbound Policy.
Since Tsai’s inauguration on May 20, the Office had operated on reduced staff due to budget constraints, with some officials loaned part-time from other units. [FULL STORY]