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.”
Taiwan from Thursday is to reinstate visa exemptions for passport holders from 65 countries. Mandatory quarantine for arriving travelers is to be lifted on Oct. 13 , when restrictions on inbound and outbound tour groups are also to be lifted. The following is a list of answers to common questions regarding how the new regulations are to affect inbound international visitors Which passports will have visa-free entry privileges? Eleven more countries on Thursday are to join 54 countries that were given visa-free privileges on Sept. 12. Passport holders from Japan, South Korea, Chile, Israel and Nicaragua can stay in Taiwan for up to 90 days without a visa. Taiwan is also to resume 30-day visa-free stays for citizens of the Dominican Republic, Singapore and Malaysia. Passport holders from Thailand, Brunei and the Philippines are to be allowed to stay in Taiwan for 14 days visa-free. Taiwan on Sept. 12 resumed 90-day visa-free entry for passport holders from the US, the UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New
HAWAII MODEL: While Hawaii held a referendum on becoming the 50th US state, Taiwan has never applied to join the People’s Republic of China, Miles Yu said China comparing Taiwanese independence to Hawaii seeking independence from the US is illogical, as Taiwan has never applied to be a part of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Hudson Institute senior fellow Miles Yu (余茂春) said over the weekend. Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅), who is in New York for the UN General Assembly, has given multiple talks asserting Chinese sovereignty over Taiwan. In a speech to the Asia Society on Thursday, Wang likened Taiwan to Hawaii. “Just as the US would not allow Hawaii to break away,” Beijing “reserves the right” to seek unification, Wang told the gathering. The
PRIDE AND FURY: Supporters of the Taiwan People’s Communist Party sang in Tainan, while Taiwan loyalists in Kaohsiung vowed to ‘protect Taiwan until death’ Two small Taiwanese groups at the far ends of the debate over relations with Beijing marked the National Day of the People’s Republic of China yesterday with flag raisings and flag burnings — opposite responses at a time of rising tension over the Taiwan Strait. Oct. 1 marks the day that Mao Zedong (毛澤東) proclaimed the People’s Republic of China in 1949, with the defeated Republic of China government fleeing to Taiwan at the end of that year, where — after democratic reforms — it remains to this day, neither recognizing the other. China’s national day is not officially marked in any
Tensions over Taiwan have raised the thorny issue of whether US troops based in South Korea would be involved in any conflict, with US and South Korean officials acknowledging that the peninsula could easily be dragged into a crisis. South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol told CNN in an interview aired on Sunday that his country was keen to work with the US to “expand freedom,” but that in a conflict over Taiwan, North Korea would be more likely to stage a provocation and that the alliance should focus on that first. North Korea has a mutual defense treaty with China, and military
RSS