The speech delivered by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) at a DPP banquet for foreign diplomats was well received by attendees. In her speech, she explained her plan to set up a special task force to implement a new “go south” policy that encompasses ASEAN and India.
President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration said that the policy would only serve to maintain the “status quo” and that Tsai’s ideas were uncreative. Whether the proposed policy is creative is yet to be seen, but it is certain that it will be very different from Ma’s reluctant and half-baked “go south” policy.
For example, an Indian Ministry of External Affairs official spoke to Taiwanese reporters visiting India in February 2011 regarding New Delhi’s intention to start negotiations with Taiwan on a free-trade agreement.
The ministry’s East Asia Division director told visiting DPP representatives that negotiations could begin as soon as a feasibility evaluation has been completed. However, two years after the evaluation was completed, no negotiations have been conducted. The Ma administration has been waiting for China to give the green light, therefore letting the opportunity to start the talks slip away.
Even Philip Ong (翁文祺), a former representative to India under the Ma administration, could not help but criticize the government’s policy as an embarrassment to Taiwanese businesspeople.
This is not only a trade problem. Thanks to Ong’s successful endeavors, Taiwan has reached a number of agreements with India, such as double taxation and swift customs passage, and set up a second Taipei Economic and Cultural Center in the nation.
India is also the only nation, other than the US, that allowed Ma to enter its airspace for a layover despite a lack of official diplomatic ties. At the time, India’s minister of Human Resource Development told Taiwan’s visiting minister of education that they hoped Taiwan could provide 10,000 Chinese-language teachers for India. If Taiwan had seized this opportunity, young Taiwanese would not have to work on Australian farms today, but could have the option of teaching Chinese to college and high-school students in India.
Furthermore, trilateral collaboration between Taiwanese and Indian schools, and Taiwanese enterprises could be developed, solving recruitment problems Taiwanese universities are facing due to declining fertility rates and the lack of people who know India well enough to facilitate business endeavors there.
However, not only is Taiwan sending very few teachers to India — currently less than 20 — but there are also reports that resources are being cut back. There have been reports that some teachers have not even been paid.
Similar problems can also be seen in Taiwan’s Indonesia policy. The feasibility study for an Indonesian free-trade agreement was finalized as early as 2012, but there have been no official talks to this day. Although what Indonesia has in mind is an inland free-trade arrangement, there is no reason Taiwan would not be able to integrate regional governance and inter-municipal cooperation to launch collaborative programs with Jakarta.
China’s economy is in decline. At the same time, ASEAN and India are emerging as the new stars in the Asia-Pacific region. Hence they must receive due attention from the government.
The Ma administration said Tsai’s go south policy only maintains the “status quo,” but a “status quo” such as the current one is hardly worth maintaining. Perhaps what really requires scrutiny is the defective policies of the Ma administration.
Lai I-chung is the deputy executive officer of the Taiwan Thinktank.
Translated by Ethan Zhan
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