The Cabinet is drafting a proposal to encourage trade and investment in Southeast Asia as an antidote to the rising business migration and capital outflow to China, the Chinese-language media reported yesterday.
Premier Yu Shyi-kun attended a briefing yesterday on promoting economic relations with Southeast Asia.
The briefing was the first meeting of a task force organized by the Cabinet to plan the implementation of its "go south" policy.
The task force is headed by Vice Premier Lin Hsin-yi (
The meeting focused on the status of the task force, issues of inter-ministry communication and work procedures.
A decision was made to invite the National Security Council to participate in the strategic planning effort.
The Chinese-language media reported yesterday that Taiwan plans to seek bilateral trade negotiations with Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and possibly Myanmar within the WTO entry framework.
None of the four countries are WTO members and therefore they will be required to hold bilateral trade talks with member states to gain admission to the trade organization.
The government also plans to prioritize the promotion of investment protection agreements and double-taxation waivers with the countries, the report said.
Taiwan will seek to expand its Southeast Asia markets through participation in ASEAN's trade policy review mechanism, the report said.
The Executive Yuan also plans to provide export loans and financing to firms exporting products to Southeast Asia, the report said. Funding will come from the Cabinet's Development Fund and the credit-guarantee fund for small and medium-sized enterprises and will be provided through commercial banks.
The export financing ceiling will also be raised from NT$60 million to NT$80 million per firm, the report said.
The Cabinet plan also focuses on helping banks set up off-shore units in Southeast Asia, pushing for liberalization of the banking sector in some Southeast Asia countries and helping local banks gain market access, the report said.
In the textiles sector, the government wants to help firms take advantage of the preferential tariffs that Southeast Asia enjoys in the textile industry in order to increase market share in exports to the US and Europe.
The proposal also includes government assistance and supervision for schools in South-east Asia for the children of businesspeople working in the region.
According to the report, the legal basis for such assistance will be provided in the Private School Law (
Another set of regulations will also be enacted to make it easier for graduates of such overseas schools to return to Taiwan for higher education.
The government has been pushing for investments in Southeast Asia since former president Lee Teng-hui (
Taiwan is also facing difficulties in its effort to sign free-trade agreements with ASEAN members because of pressure from Beijing.
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai
Four China Coast Guard ships briefly sailed through prohibited waters near Kinmen County, Taipei said, urging Beijing to stop actions that endanger navigation safety. The Chinese ships entered waters south of Kinmen, 5km from the Chinese city of Xiamen, at about 3:30pm on Monday, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement later the same day. The ships “sailed out of our prohibited and restricted waters” about an hour later, the agency said, urging Beijing to immediately stop “behavior that endangers navigation safety.” Ministry of National Defense spokesman Sun Li-fang (孫立方) yesterday told reporters that Taiwan would boost support to the Coast Guard