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進入《TAIPEI TIMES 焦點》 Interview: ‘New southbound policy’ a sincere offer, minister says
Minister Without Portfolio John Deng attends a Democratic Progressive Party （DPP） Central Standing Committee meeting on Wednesday last week in Taipei. Photo: Huang Yao-cheng, Taipei Times
Following President Tsai Ing-wen’s inauguration in May, the government’s ‘new southbound policy’ calls for bolstering relationships with ASEAN, South Asia, Australia and New Zealand, while reducing economic reliance on China. John Deng, the Executive Yuan’s Minister Without Portfolio and head of the Office of Trade Negotiations, shared the government’s plans for forging relationships with Southeast Asian states during an interview with ‘Taipei Times’ staff reporter Lauly Li in Taipei on Thursday last week.
Taipei Times （TT）: What is different about President Tsai Ing-wen’s （蔡英文） “new southbound policy” compared with those of former administrations?
John Deng （鄧振中）: The mindset of the policy is different. We used to encourage businesspeople to set up contract manufacturing bases in Southeast Asia for their cheaper land and labor. That was a “one-way” trade policy, as we only thought about how to make profits.
Now we want to show them Taiwan is sincere, because we hope to help our neighbors to grow economically. We believe the benefits of collaborations will be reciprocal.
TT: Is Taiwan holding any collaborative talks with any Southeast Asian nations?
Deng: Yes. State-run companies such as Taiwan Sugar Corp （Taisugar, 台糖） and Taiyen Biotech Co Ltd （Taiyen, 台鹽） are to spearhead our efforts on possible agricultural cooperation with Indonesia.
Indonesia has massive land and labor resources, but the country must import millions of tonnes of sugar and salt each year because of a lack of agricultural know-how and equipment. Taisugar is negotiating with Indonesian government for a plot of land, where the firm can help Indonesians grow sugarcane and transfer sugar-refining technologies and equipment. Such cooperation will not only reduce Indonesia’s import costs, but also enable Taisugar to make use of idle equipment and generate new revenue streams.
Both Indonesia and the Philippines are eager to develop their small and medium-sized enterprises （SMEs） and Taiwanese can share their experiences with them. Our capability to develop SMEs is better than that of South Korea, Japan or China, especially because of help from the Industrial Technology Research Institute （工研院） which improves the competitiveness of products.
TT: Does the policy include offering improved conditions or incentives to attract foreign professionals to Taiwan?
Deng: Lifting regulations to add more experienced foreign white-collar workers is not part of this policy. However, the policy does aim to attract more students from Southeast Asian countries to study in Taiwan on scholarships offered by the government.
The government is evaluating longer working hours for Southeast Asian college interns, which is 20 hours per week. We are also easing regulations on working permits to retain talented students after they graduate.
Taiwan has 28,000 college students from Southeast Asia and we hope to increase that to about 60,000 in the next three years. The government also wants to encourage at least 200 Taiwanese students each year to study in Southeast Asian countries on government sponsorship.
TT: How would these plans benefit Taiwan in the long term?
Deng: Some of the benefits would be seen in the short term. For example, Taiwan could export more machinery, fertilizers or seeds through agricultural collaboration. However, in 10 years, training more than 50,000 foreign students each year would mean that Taiwan can establish more than 500,000 connections in ASEAN, which I believe could help Taiwan have a significant influence in the global market in the foreseeable future.
Strong and friendly relationships with Southeast Asian states would help improve investment opportunities for Taiwanese companies.
These efforts would forge a new and mutually beneficial model of cooperation and diversify Taiwan’s economic partners.
TT: What are the risks of the policy?
Deng: I am not too worried about political interference from China, but the political and cultural environment in individual markets should be evaluated carefully.
The government will do its best to lower the risks for Taiwanese companies in those countries, such as signing bilateral investment protection agreements.
Recently we proposed revising a bilateral investment agreement with the Vietnamese government, which has not been amended since 1993, to ensure Taiwanese investors’ safety there.
新聞來源：TAIPEI TIMES
