The New Southbound Policy

In a concerted effort to expand Taiwan’s presence across the Indo-Pacific, President Tsai Ing-wen has introduced the New Southbound Policy to strengthen Taipei’s relationships with the 10 countries of ASEAN, six states in South Asia, Australia, and New Zealand.

In a concerted effort to expand Taiwan's presence across the Indo-Pacific, President Tsai Ing-wen has introduced the New Southbound Policy (NSP) to strengthen Taipei's relationships with the 10 countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), six states in South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and Bhutan), Australia, and New Zealand. The policy is designed to leverage Taiwan's cultural, educational, technological, agricultural, and economic assets to enhance Taiwan's regional integration. This report tracks the ongoing implementation of the NSP and assesses what has been achieved since Tsai was elected in January 2016.

This book offers a substantive assessment of the first Tsai Ing-wen administration, investigating different policy fields and issues from 2016 to 2020, prior to Tsai’s election for a second term. Providing a balanced account of government performance under Tsai’s Ing-wen’s reign, chapters in this edited volume combine theory and extensive empirical data to highlight both achievements and shortfalls of her administration. Chapters range comprehensively from topics of the implementation of same-sex marriage, curriculum reform, ‘transitional justice’, industrial policy and pension reform, which have been celebrated by domestic Tsai Ing-wen supporters, but have also met with considerable opposition from within Taiwanese society. Externally, cross-strait relations, the New Southbound Policy and the triangular relationship with China and the USA, which embodied major challenges for Tsai’s first administration, are also analysed as key reference points throughout. Featuring contributions from twenty six internationally renowned Taiwan scholars, Taiwan During the First Administration of Tsai Ing-wen is an essential resource for students and scholars of Taiwanese politics and society, cross-strait relations and international relations.

Ongoing geopolitical shifts are placing increased pressure on the rules-based international order that has facilitated decades of growth and development across the Indo-Pacific. The United States and Taiwan have responded by redoubling their respective commitments to the region. Leaders in both Washington and Taipei recognize that securing freedom and openness across this vast geographic space is essential for maintaining peace and promoting prosperity across the region. The United States has advanced its vision for the region through the Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP) strategy, which is founded on—and aims to protect—common principles that have benefitted all countries in the region. Taiwan upholds the same principles and has a similar vision for the Indo-Pacific. To this end, Taipei is implementing the New Southbound Policy (NSP), which seeks to leverage its cultural, educational, technological, agricultural, and economic assets to strengthen Taiwan’s relations across the Indo-Pacific.

This book looks at the regional policies of two ‘middle powers’ in the Indo-Pacific region, Taiwan and South Korea, and provides critical reflections on the ways both have sought to broaden their options for strategic manoeuvres with their southern neighbours. The chapters in this edited volume carefully examine the ‘New Southbound Policy’ (NSP-T), introduced by Taiwan (2016-present), and the ‘New Southern Policy’ (NSP-K), by South Korea (2017-2022). Both policies are aimed at important neighbours, namely Southeast Asia and India, who are major recipients of Taiwanese and South Korean capital, technology, cultural influence, and educational aid, and seek to improve diplomatic and foreign relations of these two countries with the region. Southward Bound: Examining the Regional Policies of Taiwan and South Korea will be of great value to students and scholars interested in Asian Studies, foreign policies of Asian countries, politics and international security. The chapters in this book were originally published in Asian Affairs.

This book offers a diverse set of perspectives on the current state of Taiwan’s economy and international relations, equally considering the challenges and opportunities that could forge Taiwan’s future. Featuring a range of interdisciplinary approaches, this edited volume has been written by some of the leading scholars on Taiwan’s economy and international relations, as well as emerging scholars and writers with practical diplomatic, political, and civil society experience. Contributors cover themes from political economy and international relations to gender studies and civil society-led LGBT diplomacy. Readers will benefit from chapters outlining both the historical overview of Taiwan’s development and more recent developments, with several chapters offering focused case studies into Taiwan’s economy and international space. A balanced set of conclusions are reached, affording scope for both optimism and pessimism about Taiwan’s prospects. Taiwan's Economic and Diplomatic Challenges and Opportunities will appeal to students and scholars of international relations, economics, and Taiwan studies.

This book explores the struggle between China and the United States to expand their influence in Asia through economic assistance and defensive alliances. It brings together the diverse viewpoints of scholars from various countries on how Asian countries will exploit this geo-strategic competition to pursue their national interests, while also balancing their relations with the two great powers. The book offers a valuable asset for all those who have an interest in great power politics and international relations, especially academics, policymakers and security experts.

This book investigates economic, political, and cultural conditions that have led to transnational flows of culture in Asia. Coverage also looks at the consequences of an increasingly interconnected Asian regional culture as well as policy makers and cultural industries' response to it. The book features essays written by researchers from different countries in Asia and beyond with diverse disciplinary backgrounds. The volume also contains engaging examples and cases with comparative perspectives. The contributors provide readers with grounded analysis in the organizational and economic logics of Asian creative industries, national cultural policies that promote or hinder cultural flows, and the media convergence and online consumers' surging demand for Asianized cultural products. Such insights are of crucial importance for a better understanding of the dynamics of transnational cultural flows in contemporary Asia. In addition, the essays aim to “de-westernize” the study of cultural and creative industries, which draws predominantly on cases in the United States and Europe. The contributors focus instead on regional dynamics of the development of these industries. The popularity of J-Pop and K-Pop in East and Southeast Asia (and beyond) is now well known, but less is known about how this happened. This volume offers readers theoretical tools that will help them to make better sense of those exciting phenomena and other rising cultural flows within Asia and their relevance to the global cultural economy.