New Southbound Policy

The New Southbound Policy () is an initiative of the Taiwanese government under President Tsai Ing-wen that aims to enhance cooperation and exchange between Taiwan and 18 countries in Southeast Asia, South Asia and Australasia.

James C. F. Huang was appointed the first director of the New Southbound Policy Office.

History During the Cold War, Taiwan was aligned with a number of countries in the Southeast Asia region in an anti-communist alliance during the Vietnam War.

The original Southbound Policy was created to make Taiwan less dependent on mainland China and to improve Taiwan's cooperation with other countries. The new policy was officially launched on 5 September 2016.

Cooperation countries The 18 countries targeted by the New Southbound Policy are:

Connection to Free and Open Indo Pacific (FOIP) strategy In order to support the aims of the New Southbound Policy, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Department of East Asian and Pacific Affairs officially established the Indo-Pacific Affairs Section. One focus of the Indo-Pacific section is to forge more cooperative ties with the United States, Australia, and Japan, all of whom have share similar visions for a "Free and Open Indo-Pacific."

Profiles of cooperating countries Country 2018 ease of doing business index ranking (out of 190 countries) Currency Time zone Taiwanese business association Visa entry program to Taiwan Thailand 26 Baht (฿) ICT (UTC+07:00) http://ttba.or.th/ 14 days visa-free entry from 1 Aug 2018 to 31 July 2019 Indonesia 72 Rupiah (Rp) Various (UTC+07:00 to UTC+09:00) Online visa application Philippines 113 Peso (₱) PST (UTC+08:00) 14 days visa-free entry from 1 Aug 2018 to 31 July 2019 Malaysia 24 Ringgit (RM) MST (UTC+08:00) https://www.twcham.org.my/ 30 days visa-free entry Singapore 2 Singapore dollar SST (UTC+08:00) 30 days visa-free entry Brunei 56 Brunei dollar BNT (UTC+08:00) 14 days visa-free entry from 1 Aug 2018 to 31 July 2019 Vietnam 68 Đồng (₫) (UTC+07:00) http://ctcvn.vn/ Online visa application Myanmar 171 Kyat (K), baht (฿) MMT (UTC+06:30) Online visa application Cambodia 135 Riel, dollar ($), baht (฿) KRAT/ICT (UTC+07:00) Online visa application Laos 141 Kip (₭), baht (฿) ICT (UTC+07:00) Online visa application India 100 Indian rupee (₹) IST (UTC+05:30) http://www.taiwan-india.org.tw/zh/home.php Online visa application Pakistan 122 Pakistani rupee PST (UTC+05:00) General visa Nepal 105 Nepalese rupee NST (UTC+05:45) Visa application from the Taipei Economic and Cultural Center in India Bangladesh 177 Taka (৳) BST (UTC+06:00) General visa Sri Lanka 111 Sri Lankan rupee SLST (UTC+05:30) Visa application from the Taipei Economic and Cultural Center Bhutan 75 Ngultrum and Indian rupee BTT (UTC+06:00) Visa application from the Taipei Economic and Cultural Center Australia 14 Australian dollar Various (UTC+08:00 to UTC+10:30): minor variations from the three basic time zones also exist 90 days visa-free entry until 31 December 2018 New Zealand 1 New Zealand dollar NZST (UTC+12:00): the Chatham Islands have a separate time zone 45 minutes ahead of the rest of New Zealand https://tba.org.nz/ 90 days visa-free entry

Cooperation aspects The New Southbound Policy is for Taiwan to cooperate with 18 countries in the following aspects: Trade Technology Agriculture Medicine Education Tourism

Implementation measures

Promote economic collaboration Trade offices will be set up by the Ministry of Economic Affairs in India, Indonesia, Myanmar and Thailand to assist the local integration of Taiwanese companies Interested Taiwanese businesses will be able to access market and investment information of all countries covered under the New Southbound Policy via newly established information services

Conduct talent exchange The Taiwan Education Center, Foundation for International Cooperation in Higher Education of Taiwan and universities in Taiwan help execute higher education talents exchange programs, including teaching Taiwanese Mandarin in cooperated countries locally and accept students from cooperated countries to apply for scholarships to study in Taiwan.

Universities in Taiwan Responsible Countries National Sun Yat-sen University Philippines National Taiwan University Malaysia Asia University (Taiwan) Indonesia Chung Hua University Taiwan Philippines (Adamson University)

Share resources Expanding scholarships to students from ASEAN countries up to 60,000 students by 2019.

Visas for the cooperation countries In order to improve tourism, especially from Southeast Asian countries, Taiwan has expanded visa-free entry for citizens of the Philippines, Thailand, Russia, and Brunei up until 2021.

A 2024 US government report noted that human traffickers took advantage of the policy's relaxed visa requirements to "lure Southeast Asian students and tourists to Taiwan and subject them to forced labor and sex trafficking" and a 2025 report by the National Human Rights Commission "found the government did not properly regulate admissions, work-study rules, and internships during the early stages of a New Southbound Policy education-industry collaboration program." Some recommendations that the commission offered to address the situation included "enact new regulations for off-campus internships or improve the current regulations" and "establishing online resources for vulnerable students and better response mechanisms for when abuse occurs." In 2023, a Vietnamese student died while on a work-study program offered under NSP, leading the Control Yuan to censure the Ministry of Education. In response, the education ministry said it "ordered universities to conduct reviews to ensure all businesses accepting student interns adhere to health and safety regulations."

Budget The operational budget for the policy implementation is taken from the Presidential Office budget.

Slogans The slogan "Taiwan helps Asia, and Asia helps Taiwan” has been promoted by President Tsai.

Outcomes An analysis of the first year economic performance of the policy by the National Bureau of Asian Research in 2018 found that the "increasing economic ties between Taiwan and Southeast Asia were more visible in outbound investment than in exports." An article by Pasha L. Hsieh in 2019 noted that "although China and Hong Kong still account for almost 40% of Taiwan’s external trade, the ten ASEAN states’ collective share has increased to 15 per cent." Two think-tank articles, one in 2018 from Brookings and one from Chatham House in 2020, both said that NSP had made progress in meeting its goals. A 2024 book edited by Suisheng Zhao said the policy did not significantly reduced Taiwan's economic dependence on mainland China as the value of Taiwan's 2021 exports to the mainland and Hong Kong increased 24.8% from 2020 to reach an all-time high of US $188.9 billion. Another book edited in 2024 by Gunter Schubert said the growth rates of Taiwan's exports to NSP partner nations from 2021 onwards surpassed those for its other major trading partners (U.S., Japan and China) and the trade volume between the two sides reached a record high of $180.3 billion in 2022.

New Southbound Policy

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