Taiwan’s “new southbound policy” is not an attempt to make a political statement or compete with China, but is about promoting mutually beneficial development in the region, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said on Friday.
Speaking at a question-and-answer session with journalists from media outlets across Asia, including India’s The Hindu, Indonesia’s Kompas, Malaysia’s The Sun, the Philippine Daily Inquirer, Singapore’s The Straits Times and Thailand’s The Nation, Tsai said that the policy is about economics and trade and that it aims to improve the lives of the people in the region.
Addressing criticism that China’s “One Belt, One Road” initiative has reduced Taiwan’s space in the region and is an obstacle to the policy, Tsai said that the policies pursued by Taiwan and China are completely different.
Taiwan enjoys immense soft power in terms of healthcare, education, human resources development, technological innovation, agriculture and disaster preparedness, she said.
This cannot be replaced or blocked by money or politics, she said.
Citing Singapore as an example, Tsai said that despite its larger neighbors, the city-state has managed to develop its own advantages based not on geography or scale, but on the vision and ambition of its political leaders.
If Singapore regarded its size as a limitation it would not be in the position it is in today, she said.
Commenting on plans to better develop industrial talents to benefit “new southbound policy” nations and Taiwanese-owned businesses operating there, Tsai encouraged companies and businesses in Taiwan to sponsor fellowships or scholarships to help students from India and elsewhere.
There are about 1,200 Indians studying in Taiwan and the government plans to further expand the Taiwan Fellowships and Scholarships program for talented Indian students, she said.
About 5,000 students from nations included in the policy are to begin studying in Taiwan in the summer under private sector sponsorships, Tsai said.
“It is not about competing with China, but about emphasizing Taiwan’s own advantages and promoting mutually beneficial development as a member of the regional community,” Tsai said.
The policy, initiated last year, is aimed at forging closer economic ties with ASEAN, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Australia and New Zealand, to reduce Taiwan’s economic dependence on China.
Accumulated foreign direct investment from Taiwan into the nations targeted by the policy had reached US$95 billion by December last year, data from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Web site showed.
Taiwan’s Liu Ming-i, right, who also goes by the name Ray Liu, poses with a Chinese Taipei flag after winning the gold medal in the men’s physique 170cm competition at the International Fitness and Bodybuilding Federation Asian Championship in Ajman, United Arab Emirates, yesterday.
Costa Rica sent a group of intelligence officials to Taiwan for a short-term training program, the first time the Central American country has done so since the countries ended official diplomatic relations in 2007, a Costa Rican media outlet reported last week. Five officials from the Costa Rican Directorate of Intelligence and Security last month spent 23 days in Taipei undergoing a series of training sessions focused on national security, La Nacion reported on Friday, quoting unnamed sources. The Costa Rican government has not confirmed the report. The Chinese embassy in Costa Rica protested the news, saying in a statement issued the same
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
TO BE APPEALED: The environment ministry said coal reduction goals had to be reached within two months, which was against the principle of legitimate expectation The Taipei High Administrative Court on Thursday ruled in favor of the Taichung Environmental Protection Bureau in its administrative litigation against the Ministry of Environment for the rescission of a NT$18 million fine (US$609,570) imposed by the bureau on the Taichung Power Plant in 2019 for alleged excess coal power generation. The bureau in November 2019 revised what it said was a “slip of the pen” in the text of the operating permit granted to the plant — which is run by Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) — in October 2017. The permit originally read: “reduce coal use by 40 percent from Jan.
RSS