The Asia-Europe Institute (AEI) Universiti Malaya, in collaboration with the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) in Malaysia, successfully hosted the seminar "Looking South: Comparing the Regional Policies of Taiwan and South Korea." Held in a hybrid format, the event brought together distinguished scholars to discuss the strategic regional policies of Taiwan and South Korea as important East Asian partners to ASEAN.
The New Southbound Policy (NSP) of Taiwan and the Korea-ASEAN Strategic Initiative (KASI) are both important policies by Taiwan and South Korea in deepening and increasing their partnership with their southern neighbours namely ASEAN and its member countries, as well as India, in line with developments in the Indo-Pacific Region.
Without a doubt, Taiwan and South Korea both have had a long, and mutually beneficial relationship with ASEAN as a region however in a time of great geopolitical tension it is becoming apparent that greater regional cooperation needs to be fostered – a step that the administration of both Taiwan and South Korea has taken great care to embark on with their policies aimed at the region.
Representative Phoebe Yeh from the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office (TECO) spoke in her welcoming remarks about the eighth year of the NSP and its success in increasing exchanges and cooperation beyond economy. This includes a significant number of people travelling for tourism as well as educational exchanges.
Professor Micheal Hsiao, Chairman of Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation (TAEF) and Chairman of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at National Chengchi University commented that “the NSP is a deliberate policy to change Taiwan’s identity and is not just a revision of economic policy.” This means a mobilization of not just businesses but administrative agencies as well as civil societies to build better relations with its ASEAN partners.
All of these positive outcomes are also evident in the relationship with South Korea. For South Korea, although there is a shift from the former President’s New Southern Policy, the launch of the Korea ASEAN Strategic Initiative (KASI) as a major initiative under its Indo Pacific Strategy means South Korea continues to put priority on the continued improvement of its strategic exchanges.
In both situations the Southeast Asian region is in a beneficial position to grab the opportunities presented in order to deepen its influence beyond being a passive recipient of foreign investment and market destination.
The event concluded with a hybrid panel discussion session with the authors of the upcoming book “Southward Bound: Examining the Regional Policies of Taiwan and South Korea” to be published by Routledge.