Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday announced a “new southward policy” to strengthen relations with Southeast Asian countries and India.
Tsai said ASEAN and India are soon to become major economies in the world and that “it is a natural choice for us to step up overall relations with ASEAN and India” as Taiwan seeks to diversify its trade.
“In the future, we will establish a task force to actively execute the goals of the policy,” Tsai said at a cocktail party for foreign envoys in Taiwan celebrating the 29th anniversary of the founding of the DPP.
Photo: Chen Chih-chu, Taipei Times
The nation’s “go south policy” in the past was designed to encourage Taiwanese enterprises to increase investment in Southeast Asian countries, Tsai said, adding that trade and investment will only be a part of the cooperation under her southward policy.
A diversified and multifaceted partnership is also to be established for civilian exchanges, as well as cultural and educational links, she said.
On the DPP’s foreign policy, Tsai said that “among us [the attendees at the party], there might be some countries whose national interests are not quite the same, and whose views on some issues might be different, but I believe all nations are striving for the same goals of peace, stability and prosperity.”
“We believe that there is a need to establish a domestic legal mechanism” to let Taiwan take part in the international community’s assistance for refugees, she said, adding that the DPP will also make efforts to ease regional conflicts, citing the tension in the South China Sea as an example.
More than 140 diplomatic personnel from 64 countries attended the party, including American Institute in Taiwan Director Kin Moy, Japan’s Interchange Association Representative Mikio Numata and Singapore Trade Office in Taipei Representative Wong Wie Kuen (黃偉權).
In response to Tsai’s policy announcement, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) said that her staff are also drafting a foreign policy platform and that she is “of course” in favor of a policy that “does not put all of our eggs in one basket,” nor will she ignore nascent economic opportunities in ASEAN member states.
However, she added that she opposes any “single-minded” move to the south that “abandons the giant Chinese market to the west.”
Additional reporting by Chen Yu-hsuan
Taiwanese scientists have engineered plants that can capture about 50 percent more carbon dioxide and produce more than twice as many seeds as unmodified plants, a breakthrough they hope could one day help mitigate global warming and grow more food staples such as rice. If applied to major food crops, the new system could cut carbon emissions and raise yields “without additional equipment or labor costs,” Academia Sinica researcher and lead author the study Lu Kuan-jen (呂冠箴) said. Academia Sinica president James Liao (廖俊智) said that as humans emit 9.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide compared with the 220 billion tonnes absorbed
The Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) Wanda-Zhonghe Line is 81.7 percent complete, with public opening targeted for the end of 2027, New Taipei City Mayor Hou You-yi (侯友宜) said today. Surrounding roads are to be open to the public by the end of next year, Hou said during an inspection of construction progress. The 9.5km line, featuring nine underground stations and one depot, is expected to connect Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall Station to Chukuang Station in New Taipei City’s Jhonghe District (中和). All 18 tunnels for the line are complete, while the main structures of the stations and depot are mostly finished, he
Taipei is to implement widespread road closures around Taipei 101 on Friday to make way for large crowds during the Double Ten National Day celebration, the Taipei Department of Transportation said. A four-minute fireworks display is to be launched from the skyscraper, along with a performance by 500 drones flying in formation above the nearby Nanshan A21 site, starting at 10pm. Vehicle restrictions would occur in phases, they said. From 5pm to 9pm, inner lanes of Songshou Road between Taipei City Hall and Taipei 101 are to be closed, with only the outer lanes remaining open. Between 9pm and 9:40pm, the section is
China’s plan to deploy a new hypersonic ballistic missile at a Chinese People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force (PLARF) base near Taiwan likely targets US airbases and ships in the western Pacific, but it would also present new threats to Taiwan, defense experts said. The New York Times — citing a US Department of Defense report from last year on China’s military power — on Monday reported in an article titled “The missiles threatening Taiwan” that China has stockpiled 3,500 missiles, 1.5 times more than four years earlier. Although it is unclear how many of those missiles were targeting Taiwan, the newspaper reported
RSS