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Guidelines for `New Southbound Policy' adopted

ROC Central News Agency

2016/08/16 21:06:32

Taipei, Aug. 16 (CNA) The Presidential Office approved Tuesday a set of guidelines for the "New Southbound Policy," an important part of Taiwan's overall strategy to promote trade and economic ties with other countries.

The guidelines were adopted in a meeting on foreign trade strategy convened by President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文). Other participants in the meeting were Premier Lin Chuan (林全), Mainland Affairs Council Minister Chang Hsiao-yueh (張小月), Culture Minister Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君), Foreign Affairs Minister David Lee (李大維) and National Development Council Minister Chen Tain-jy (陳添枝).

The guidelines state that the long-term goals of the "New Southbound Policy" are to promote Taiwan's economic, technological and cultural connections with Southeast Asia, South Asia, Australia and New Zealand to allow for the sharing of resources, talent and markets, according to Presidential Office spokesman Alex Huang (黃重諺).

The policy is also aimed at creating a new cooperation model based on mutual benefit and joint prosperity, and establishing an extensive mechanism for negotiations and dialogue to facilitate consensus- building and resolve differences, Huang said.

In the short- and medium-term, the policy will be used to promote and expand two-way exchanges on investment, tourism, culture and human resources with the targeted countries, encourage Taiwanese companies to expand their footprints southward, and expand multilateral and bilateral negotiations and dialogue, he said.

On the policy's standard for action, he said the government will work to define Taiwan's future role in regional development in the hope of making it an innovator and service provider.

The government will also push for regional connection in the areas of soft power, supply chains, regional markets and people-to-people contact, he said.

In addition, Huang said, the government will train more talent, promote multilateral and bilateral cooperation, take an active part in international cooperation, strengthen the mechanism for negotiations and dialogue, and improve friendly interaction and cooperation across the Taiwan Strait.

He said Taiwan and China shoulder a major responsibility for regional peace and development, and share many common interests.

Given that they enjoy different advantages on establishing economic partnership with the related countries, the two sides will be able to reinforce their strengths if they cooperate with each other, he said, adding that the government will not rule out the possibility of negotiating the issue with Beijing.

(By Hsieh Chia-chen and Y.F. Low)
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