New Southbound Policy


The New Southbound Policy is an initiative of the Taiwanese government under President Tsai Ing-wen that aims to enhance cooperation and exchange between Taiwan and 18 countries in Southeast Asia, South Asia and Australasia.
James C. F. Huang was appointed the first director of the New Southbound Policy Office.

History

During the Cold War, Taiwan was aligned with a number of countries in the Southeast Asia region in an anti-communist alliance during the Vietnam War.
The original Southbound Policy was created to make Taiwan less dependent on mainland China and to improve Taiwan's cooperation with other countries. The new policy was officially launched on 5 September 2016.

Cooperation countries

The 18 countries targeted by the New Southbound Policy are:

  • Connection to Free and Open Indo Pacific (FOIP) strategy

In order to support the aims of the New Southbound Policy, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Department of East Asian and Pacific Affairs officially established the Indo-Pacific Affairs Section. One focus of the Indo-Pacific section is to forge more cooperative ties with the United States, Australia, and Japan, all of whom have share similar visions for a "Free and Open Indo-Pacific."

Profiles of cooperating countries

Cooperation aspects

The New Southbound Policy is for Taiwan to cooperate with 18 countries in the following aspects:
  • Trade
  • Technology
  • Agriculture
  • Medicine
  • Education
  • Tourism

    Implementation measures

Promote economic collaboration

  • Trade offices will be set up by the Ministry of Economic Affairs in India, Indonesia, Myanmar and Thailand to assist the local integration of Taiwanese companies
  • Interested Taiwanese businesses will be able to access market and investment information of all countries covered under the New Southbound Policy via newly established information services

    Conduct talent exchange

  • The Taiwan Education Center, Foundation for [International Cooperation in Higher Education of Taiwan] and universities in Taiwan help execute higher education talents exchange programs, including teaching Taiwanese Mandarin in cooperated countries locally and accept students from cooperated countries to apply for scholarships to study in Taiwan.
Universities in TaiwanResponsible Countries
National Sun Yat-sen UniversityPhilippines
National Taiwan UniversityMalaysia
Asia University (Taiwan)Indonesia
Chung Hua University TaiwanPhilippines

Share resources

  • Expanding scholarships to students from ASEAN countries up to 60,000 students by 2019.

    Visas for the cooperation countries

  • In order to improve tourism, especially from Southeast Asian countries, Taiwan has expanded visa-free entry for citizens of the Philippines, Thailand, Russia, and Brunei up until 2021.
A 2024 US government report noted that human traffickers took advantage of the policy's relaxed visa requirements to "lure Southeast Asian students and tourists to Taiwan and subject them to forced labor and sex trafficking" and a 2025 report by the National Human Rights Commission "found the government did not properly regulate admissions, work-study rules, and internships during the early stages of a New Southbound Policy education-industry collaboration program." Some recommendations that the commission offered to address the situation included "enact new regulations for off-campus internships or improve the current regulations" and "establishing online resources for vulnerable students and better response mechanisms for when abuse occurs." In 2023, a Vietnamese student died while on a work-study program offered under NSP, leading the Control Yuan to censure the Ministry of Education. In response, the education ministry said it "ordered universities to conduct reviews to ensure all businesses accepting student interns adhere to health and safety regulations."

Budget

The operational budget for the policy implementation is taken from the Presidential [Office Building, Taiwan|Presidential Office] budget.

Slogans

The slogan "Taiwan helps Asia, and Asia helps Taiwan” has been promoted by President Tsai.

Outcomes

An analysis of the first year economic performance of the policy by the National Bureau of Asian Research in 2018 found that the "increasing economic ties between Taiwan and Southeast Asia were more visible in outbound investment than in exports." An article by Pasha L. Hsieh in 2019 noted that "although China and Hong Kong still account for almost 40% of Taiwan’s external trade, the ten ASEAN states’ collective share has increased to 15 per cent." Two think-tank articles, one in 2018 from Brookings and one from Chatham House in 2020, both said that NSP had made progress in meeting its goals. A 2024 book edited by Suisheng Zhao said the policy did not significantly reduced Taiwan's economic dependence on mainland China as the value of Taiwan's 2021 exports to the mainland and Hong Kong increased 24.8% from 2020 to reach an all-time high of US $188.9 billion. Another book edited in 2024 by Gunter Schubert said the growth rates of Taiwan's exports to NSP partner nations from 2021 onwards surpassed those for its other major trading partners and the trade volume between the two sides reached a record high of $180.3 billion in 2022.