The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) yesterday elaborated on its “new southbound policy” at its Central Standing Committee meeting, with president-elect Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) underscoring it as “one of this nation’s crucial policies” for the near future.
Department of International Affairs Director James Huang (黃志芳) presented a report at the meeting, after which Tsai said it would be one of the nation’s important policies and asked party members in the central and local governments to put effort into the work, according to DPP spokesperson Yang Chia-liang (楊家俍).
Huang said that the policy has “gained traction” in various fields since it was announced last year.
“Industry, Taiwanese businesspeople in ASEAN, academia, various non-governmental groups and immigrant groups have been providing ideas and suggestions, which shows that people have fairly high expectations of the policy,” Huang said. “Many nations that might be affected by the policy are also interested in it and have engaged in constructive discussions with us.”
Huang said that Taiwan cannot lag behind as the world trends toward establishing holds in India and ASEAN.
“The new southbound policy is Taiwan’s new outward-oriented economic strategic plan that puts people at its core,” Huang said. “As a five-year plan, [the new government] would be pushing bilateral interaction and cooperation of human resources, industries, investments, education, culture, tourism and agriculture between Taiwan, ASEAN and South Asian nations to build a new partnership with these countries this century,” Huang said.
A “new southbound policy office” is to be set up to handle decisionmaking and integration, while a national-level think tank for the research of ASEAN and South Asian studies would also be built, he added.
A major project for ASEAN and South Asian studies-related scholarships would be integrated, through which communication among and cultivation of experts could be substantiated, Huang said, adding that they could constitute support for the development of the nation’s industries in the region.
“With Taiwan’s geographic position and economic conditions, it could be ASEAN and South Asian nations’ best economic and cultural partner,” Huang said. “In the face of a challenging economic situation, Taiwan has to look and walk straight ahead with the spirit of an oceanic nation and make economic breakthroughs via the policy.”
South Korean K-pop girl group Blackpink are to make Kaohsiung the first stop on their Asia tour when they perform at Kaohsiung National Stadium on Oct. 18 and 19, the event organizer said yesterday. The upcoming performances will also make Blackpink the first girl group ever to perform twice at the stadium. It will be the group’s third visit to Taiwan to stage a concert. The last time Blackpink held a concert in the city was in March 2023. Their first concert in Taiwan was on March 3, 2019, at NTSU Arena (Linkou Arena). The group’s 2022-2023 “Born Pink” tour set a
CPBL players, cheerleaders and officials pose at a news conference in Taipei yesterday announcing the upcoming All-Star Game. This year’s CPBL All-Star Weekend is to be held at the Taipei Dome on July 19 and 20.
The Taiwan High Court yesterday upheld a lower court’s decision that ruled in favor of former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) regarding the legitimacy of her doctoral degree. The issue surrounding Tsai’s academic credentials was raised by former political talk show host Dennis Peng (彭文正) in a Facebook post in June 2019, when Tsai was seeking re-election. Peng has repeatedly accused Tsai of never completing her doctoral dissertation to get a doctoral degree in law from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 1984. He subsequently filed a declaratory action charging that
The Hualien Branch of the High Court today sentenced the main suspect in the 2021 fatal derailment of the Taroko Express to 12 years and six months in jail in the second trial of the suspect for his role in Taiwan’s deadliest train crash. Lee Yi-hsiang (李義祥), the driver of a crane truck that fell onto the tracks and which the the Taiwan Railways Administration's (TRA) train crashed into in an accident that killed 49 people and injured 200, was sentenced to seven years and 10 months in the first trial by the Hualien District Court in 2022. Hoa Van Hao, a