A spokesperson for President-elect Tsai Ing-wen on Monday defended a new office that would promote ties with Southeast Asian nations.
The spokesperson – Alex Huang -- said the so-called “go south policy” office is not a covert agency and has no authority over other government ministries.
Huang was responding to criticism from a KMT legislator. The legislator said that by setting up the office, Tsai was creating a covert agency that would supersede the authority of the premier. But Huang said the new office would merely be responsible for coordinating policies and regulations. He said that individual ministries would still be in charge of executing policies.
Huang said that Tsai has put a lot of effort into the new go-south policy. While the original go-south policy focused only on investing in Southeast Asian countries, Huang said the new policy would also include industrial, cultural, tourism, and educational exchanges.