The head of the newly formed Southbound Policy office, James Huang, says Southeast Asia is a vital economic battleground for all countries.
The Southbound Policy aims to bring Taiwan closer to Southeast Asia and India in terms of trade and tourism. The goal is to reduce Taiwan’s dependence on China as a source of both. Once the Southbound Policy office is formally established, Huang will be in charge of putting the policy into action.
The policy has attracted criticism from some circles. Critics include Zhang Zhijun, head of Beijing’s Taiwan Affairs Office.
But at an event organized by the Economics Ministry on Thursday, Huang said that China has also seen the value of Southeast Asia and has moved towards a kind of “Southbound Policy” of its own.
"China launched [its policy] even earlier. It set up the China-ASEAN Investment Cooperation Fund in 2010 and has been promoting measures such as the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank ever since," Huang said. "Every country has its own ‘Southbound Policy’ because [Southeast Asia] is a vital market that many nations are pursuing. I think the misunderstanding of this policy comes from the fact that you cannot use the lens of the 1990s to look at the situation of Southeast Asia in 2016."
Huang also spoke about Taiwan’s plan to add Laos, Cambodia, and Myanmar to a list of Southeast Asian countries whose nationals can enter Taiwan under simplified visa rules.
Huang said that Japan has been a leader in simplifying visa procedures for Southeast Asian passport holders. He said that so far, differences between Taiwan and Japan have led Taiwan to take a more gradual approach towards simplifying procedures. But he said that Taiwan will continue to expand policies designed to make visa procedures less complicated.