Taiwan Banks On New Policy For Greater Regional Cooperation, Prosperity

TAIPEI, Jan 3 (Bernama) -- Taiwan, in its quest to stay economically strong amidst heightened competition in the 21st century, is banking on its New Southbound Policy (NSP) to help forge new and mutually beneficial cooperation with 18 countries in Asia and eventually create a stronger sense of economic community. This new external policy initiative embarked upon by the Taiwanese government some seven months ago is targeted at 10 ASEAN countries, six South Asian nations, as well as Australia and New Zealand. Together these countries represent a market potential of around two billion consumers or more. Over the last few months, Taiwanese government officials, planners, academicians and senior private sector executives have become increasingly upbeat on the policy aimed at building a new model of economic development for Taiwan. This has been evident from policy statements from and conversations with them. They acknowledge that while neighbouring China, Japan and South Korea remain important to Taiwan’s economy, the policy initiated by President Tsai Ing-wen represented a new initiative to reposition Taiwan as a key player in Asia’s on-going growth. Basically, the NSP is more than just trade and investment or setting up manufacturing bases as pointed out by Vice-President Chen Chien-jen in a meeting with ASEAN legislators, politicians and journalists in August this year. It will encompass bilateral partnerships and expand exchanges of personnel, capital, technology, culture and education, he explained. Therefore, besides promoting economic collaboration, the NSP is also aimed at focusing on people, deepening bilateral exchange and cultivation of young scholars, students and industry professionals. A case in point was a gathering of young ASEAN industry professionals here for two weeks last November to explore ways to deepen their business links and networks, especially in technology exchange platforms. Johnson Chiw, assistant general manager of Smart Farm (M) Sdn Bhd, a company engaged in farm management from Seri Kembangan in Selangor, was one of the beneficiaries of the renewed fervour in fostering greater regional cooperation under the new policy initiative. "I learnt a lot from networking with people from similar industries and the exposure on the technological advancements that I have seen in Taiwan will all help me in my work back in Malaysia later," he said. Another participant, Anthony Loh, managing director of TalkCar Asia PLT in Johor Bahru, hoped that the networking with leading technopreneurs here would allow him to further fine-tune his app for car repairs. "When I roll out my app later, I hope to reduce the headaches of motorists who are often confronted with where to find the most competent workshops or the most competitively-priced ones," he added. But Taiwan is not resting on its laurels although it has made a name for itself as a technological powerhouse. Cheryl Tseng, Secretary-General of Taiwan National Development Council, explained that Taiwan’s new direction would be on competing on value instead of competing on price as was in the past. Taiwan, she said, was constantly upgrading its economic development model from the efficiency-driven mode of the past to the innovation-driven mode of digitalisation and using more intelligent ways of producing products and services. Taiwan, measuring about 36,000 sq km or roughly equivalent to the size of the Netherlands, is today the world’s largest supplier of six industrial products and services such as foundry services in high technology, integrated circuit packaging and testing, high-grade bicycles, fiberglass fabrics, functional textiles and green algae. In terms of functional textiles, Hermin Textile with a 40-year history operating in Taipei and Tainan County, has been producing new types of fabrics to meet new demands from the many top retail brands in the market, said its marketing manager, Courtney Cruzan. "We have put in a lot of effort to produce functional textiles like breathable and water repellent fabrics that can repel liquids on the outside while allowing body moisture vapour to evaporate through the fabrics, thus allowing the wearer to feel comfortable throughout," she said. The above is just one example that the Taiwanese government has been encouraging its industries, backed by leading edge R&D facilities at three major science parks in Hsinchu, Tainan and Taichung, to innovate and produce more value-added products and services to bring greater vitality to its economy and global trade. Lee Guann-Jyh, Chief Secretary of the Bureau of Foreign Trade in the Ministry of Economic Affairs, said the NSP would create an important platform in Taiwan’s external economic strategy. He explained that it would not just be a one-way traffic of Taiwanese companies investing in host countries but a mutually beneficial strategy of getting dynamic companies in host countries to benefit, as well by expanding to other countries or even establishing a foothold in Taiwan. Describing it as resource sharing under the policy, he added that the Taiwanese government would be looking at ways to update various bilateral agreements with host countries with a view to strengthen bilateral cooperation and relations. James Chang Chi-ping, Representative of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Malaysia, described the new policy as enabling the Taiwanese government to build a new relationship with Malaysia, as well as other countries. "The spirit of the policy is that we will broaden exchanges and cooperation with regional neighbours in areas such as commerce, tourism, education, and culture. Taiwan and Malaysia are geographically close and have always enjoyed a cordial and strong relationship," he said. In the 1990s, Chang said Taiwan used to be the largest investor in Malaysia and was now Malaysia’s fourth largest foreign investor. Currently, there are 1,700 Taiwanese companies in Malaysia. "Accumulative foreign direct investment from Taiwan to Malaysia amounted to US$12.1 billion up to 2015. Taiwan is the eighth largest trading partner in Malaysia, bilateral trade in 2015 reached US$13.6 billion," he said. In the January-July 2016 period, bilateral trade volume between Malaysia and Taiwan amounted to US$8.67 billion, a rise of 2.2 per cent from 2015. In terms of education, Taiwan is among the top three favourite foreign destinations among Malaysian students. Over the past five decades, more than 60,000 Malaysians have graduated from Taiwanese universities and colleges and currently there are 15,000 Malaysians studying in Taiwan. To facilitate the educational element of the NSP, Chang said Taiwan would allocate one billion New Taiwan Dollars or US$28.93 million (RM130 million) to increase the bilateral education cooperation with ASEAN countries. (US$1 = RM4.49) Under this scheme, he said the quota of Taiwan’s government scholarships for Malaysia would increase to 30 students from the current 20 in 2017 and expected further increases in the future. Benjamin Liu, senior adviser to the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Malaysia, said Taiwan would be in the long haul to develop comprehensive and strategic relationships with the 18 targeted countries for greater regional prosperity under the NSP. "We stand ready to help on any enquiry on the New Southbound Policy for mutual benefit," he said. -- BERNAMA