President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday urged the central and local governments to join forces to ensure the best outcome for her administration’s “new southbound policy,” while laying down a number of priority tasks.
Speaking after the weekly High-Level Policy Coordination Meeting in Taipei yesterday evening, Presidential Office spokesman Alex Huang (黃重諺) said while the “new southbound policy” is formulated and promoted by the central government, Tsai expressed the hope that local governments could play a more active role.
“Kaohsiung is our most important city in the south and due to its unique strategic geographic location it could become a base for the policye,” Huang quoted Tsai as saying at the meeting.
After listening to suggestions proposed by Kaohsiung City Government representatives about talent cultivation and industrial development, Tsai instructed the Executive Yuan to factor in the suggestions when devising policies and allocating resources, Huang said.
Tsai also listed four tasks which she has requested that the Cabinet concentrate on in the next year, Huang said.
“First, the nation should strengthen its interactions with nations targeted by the ‘new southbound policy,’ especially those with which Taipei has already established cooperation, and promote more frequent high-level mutual visits,” Huang quoted Tsai as saying.
Huang said other tasks include reinforcing the government’s and non-governmental organizations’ knowledge of the political situation and economies of the nations targeted by the policy; to sign bilateral investment treaties or tax conventions with the nations; and to concentrate resources on goals that could yield achievements in a short period of time.
“The nation’s road to develop its external relations is not smooth due to its special international situation, but this will not stop us from moving forward,” Huang quoted Tsai as saying.
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