Southbound Policy Research Articles

Exploring Learning Effectiveness of Narrative Curriculum in Guiding Design Concepts for Southeast Asian Students

Owing to the active promotion of Taiwan's New Southbound Policy, students from Southeast Asian countries account for the highest proportion of international students. However, in their communication in Mandarin Chinese, there exists a significant disparity in their understanding. Thus, this study was conducted to find a way to enhance the comprehension and creativity of Southeast Asian students using a narrative curriculum to a basic graphic design course. The questionnaire survey and analysis results of student performance showed that the integration of the narrative curriculum into teaching had positive effects on their learning effectiveness. An increase in the vocabulary of the students was observed in design concepts, and their visual thinking showed diverse perspectives. This approach stimulated students’ integrative thinking abilities, reduced their apprehension of design tasks, and boosted their confidence in design projects.

PERFORMANCE EVALUATION OF BILATERAL ECONOMIC COOPERATION BETWEEN TAIWAN AND PARTNER COUNTRIES UNDER NEW SOUTHBOUND POLICY: PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE

Purpose – in light of the Taiwan New Southbound Policy (NSP), this paper aims to evaluate the performance of bilateral cooperation between Taiwan and its economic partner countries in order to have a better understanding of the coherence of reciprocal relations in the past, present and future. Research methodology – firstly, both individual forecasting models and combining forecasts were employed to predict the future values based on a period of thirty years (1990–2019). Secondly, the paper proposes non-convex DEA to detect non-convex characteristics of datasets where the volume of inputs and outputs were unevenly allocated in past years. Finally, a DEA window was applied to provide efficiency scores for decision-making units (DMUs) across a period of twelve years (2014–2025). Findings – the results found that the efficiency of seven out of eight DMUs will improve in the coming years. With a stable performance in both scale and efficiency, Singapore is Taiwan’s most successful economic partner, followed by Malaysia. The NSP remained as a vital foreign policy in supporting Taiwan’s bilateral trade and outward foreign direct investment (OFDI). Research limitations – more inputs and outputs are required in order to reflect the overall performance of the bilateral cooperation between two economies. Furthermore, more extended models are worth further investigation. Practical implications – the forecasting values of exports and imports can be used in analysing Taiwan economy’s trade deficits. This study provides useful inputs for managers in allocating resources of inbound and outbound values, and reacting rightfully to the uncertain future. Originality/Value – the paper not only contribute much more than previous ones by evaluating into the relationship between size of scale and efficiency of bilateral economies but also provide advices for policymakers in creating mechanisms that can facilitate the NSP’s sustainable development.

SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS’ REGIONAL COMPETITIVENESS: AN EXPLORATION THROUGH GREY RELATIONAL ANALYSIS

This study aims to explore the comparison of the regional competitiveness of the nations targeted by Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy and the key indicators that influence regional competitiveness. Through comparative analysis between each other, we will further select countries and regions that are most suitable for investment and exchange. Regional competitiveness describes the ability of various economies to compete for resources or markets in a region. Exploring regional competitiveness allows the best nations for investment to be identified so that unnecessary costs and losses may be avoided. This paper proposes a multiple attribute decision making method, grey relational analysis (GRA), for solving this kind of problem. This study investigates the regional competitiveness of various nations using competitiveness rankings obtained through the ranking of grey relational ordinals. The study seeks to identify critical factors underlying regional competitiveness. The study variables are grouped into four major factors: economy, human resources, technology, and trade capability. The results reveal that India, Singapore, and Australia are nations with regional competitive advantages. Labor force and technology are indispensable factors for enhancing regional competitiveness. ASEAN countries have greater regional competitiveness than South Asia or Australia and New Zealand.

The case for smart diplomacy: Evidence from Taiwan's New Southbound Policy

AbstractHow do small states create potent foreign policy? This article argues that small states like Taiwan, Mongolia, and Singapore create effective foreign policy by engaging in smart diplomacy. Smart diplomacy, we argue, is an approach whereby smaller states must choose rational foreign policy objectives in a targeted region they can attain through a mix of soft power and niche national branding. We further argue that for most small states, their foreign policy options are limited, and smart diplomacy is the most rational way forward. By analyzing Taiwan's New Southbound Policy as a framework for smart diplomacy, this article argues that a small state will need to engage in smart diplomacy as it seeks to engage its neighbors in the region on people‐to‐people basis rather than through traditional diplomacy. To achieve that, it would need a clear national brand and niche expertise it can offer its partners.

Strategising Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy

The New Southbound Policy (NSP) is the signature foreign policy of Taiwan that enables collaborative partnerships to be built among public, private and the third sector in advancing its presence. This article unpacks the P-P-P-P practice of the NSP since 2016. It articulates that the cross-sectoral partnership and its synergy for delivering the NSP enables Taiwan to navigate in the changing dynamics of the Indo-Pacific region.

Behind the Leverage of Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy: New Market Opportunities and Disproving Confrontation

Abstract Currently, many of Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy reports show that Taiwan’s primary motivations are to cooperate with Southeast Asia, the Asia-Pacific, and South Asia to decrease their dependence on mainland China. Taiwan’s government aims to leverage Taiwan’s assets to enhance regional integration with these countries. However, there is still a lack of research on the purpose behind the policy. Why is Taiwan now seemingly using a policy of confrontation instead of avoidance? This paper argues that the policy intent behind the New Southbound Policy is not to directly confront mainland China, despite Beijing’s pressure on Taiwan. This hypothesis will be explored by analysing and comparing the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road and the New Southbound Policy.

南向政策下之跨境教師專業發展的需求評估：以五所馬來西亞華文獨立中學為例 Needs Assessment of Cross-Border Teachers’ Professional Development Under the Southbound Policy: Case Study of Five Malaysian-Chinese Independent Secondary Schools

南向政策下之跨境教師專業發展的需求評估：以五所馬來西亞華文獨立中學為例 Needs Assessment of Cross-Border Teachers’ Professional Development Under the Southbound Policy: Case Study of Five Malaysian-Chinese Independent Secondary Schools

Motherhood, empowerment and contestation: the act of citizenship of vietnamese immigrant activists in the realm of the new southbound policy

ABSTRACT This paper focuses on how immigrant activists interact with the host state in socio-political spheres where they exercise their citizenship. Located in Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy (NSP), this paper adopts the concept of ‘act of citizenship’ to analyse Vietnamese activists’ interactions with the NSP. This paper finds that the NSP appropriated immigrant women’s motherhood and family relationships in order to boost tourism and facilitate Southeast Asian language acquisition in the short term and to enhance Taiwan’s relationship with Southeast Asia in the long run. In response, immigrant activists utilised the NSP to build their own capacity and to realise their acts of empowerment, compassion and contestation in the family and public domains. They not only improved individuals’ wellbeing but also made the Taiwanese state accountable for gender bias and inequality. These findings offer a much needed gender perspective into immigrant activists’ dialectical relationship with the migration state of Taiwan.

E-Learning Integrated STEM Education Center (eLISE) in Asia: A Reflection Case Study of Taiwan and Vietnam Research Project

Objective:This article describes the implementation plan, advance and future directions of the academic and educational research center eLISE (e-Learning Integrated STEM Education Center) whose foundation intends to narrow the collaboration between Taiwan and Vietnam in e-Learning and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) in the framework of the New Southbound Policy[1], a long-term project announced by the Taiwanese government to strengthen the partnership with South Asian countries.
 Originality / contribution:This article contributes to the reflection about the promotion of international cooperation in innovation, scientific and technological research as well as the analysis of public policies guided towards e-Learning and STEM innovation.
 Information collection method / strategies: The stages of the research and innovation process were (1) Innovation e-Learning and STEM Instruction teaching material and module: test application, teacher workshops and interviews (2) Innovation e-Learning and STEM assessment through CloudClassRoom observation with Gamified Electronic Audio Response System and Google Bert. 
 Conclusions: The description of the implementation of eLISE, the explanation of the development of innovative curriculums and teacher workshops, as well as the talent exchange and the cooperation between industry and academy, highlights the importance of cultivate talents and workforces educated through STEM and e-Learning, seeking regional development and prosperity for both, Taiwan and Vietnam.
 
 [1] Office of Trade Negotiations, executive Yuan, Bureau of Foreign Trade, T. M. of E. A. New Southbound Policy Guidelines and Action Plan. (Taipei, 2017).

Taiwan–Myanmar Relations within the Framework of the New Southbound Policy

Abstract This article combines the study of Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy with a case study of Taiwan–Myanmar relations from a perspective of political relations, economic cooperation, and Taiwan’s (un)recognisability in Myanmar—i.e. Taiwan’s soft power in Myanmar. The first part of the paper introduces the policy and compares it with the previous ones, and sheds light on Taiwan’s motivation to engage with Myanmar. It considers the ongoing trade war between the United States and China, due to which investment relocation from China is expected to sharply increase. The second part of the paper provides an insight into the relationship between Taiwan and Myanmar after Myanmar’s state-led political transformation from military rule and economic liberalisation since approximately 2010. It explains the main aspects and determinants of the relationship between two countries that share a neighbouring potential hegemon which they both wish to balance against.

The Southeast Asian languages policy in Taiwan: the linguistic and nonlinguistic goals

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to examine the linguistic and non-linguistic goals of the Southeast Asian languages (SEAL) policy in Taiwan. It was proposed by former President Ma Ying-jeou’s administration to develop grades 1–12 students’ multilingual awareness, for there has been an increasingly significant presence of second-generation Southeast Asian immigrants at school. Since current President Tsai In-Wen’s first-term in 2016, the SEAL policy has been fuelled with an economic and sociopolitical agenda – the New Southbound Policy, the measure which is designed to advance the nation’s prospects in Southeast Asia. This study applies Cooper’s [1989. Language Planning and Social Change. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press] language policy as marketing and analyses the instrumentalist value of the SEAL. The Tsai government is conceptualised as a marketer; the SEAL are defined as the product; the Ministry of Education is assigned to the place as a hub which distributes the SEAL product to nationwide consumers; promotion piques the consumers’ interest in SEAL learning; price is set by making one’s profit gains larger than the sum of investment. The study concludes that the value of the SEAL product increases when its communication network is expanded from local immigrant communities and national school systems to an international business area.

India, Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific: Economic–Security Strategic Partnership and Expected Utility Theory

The China–India border dispute has witnessed escalations recently with China making fresh claims along the disputed border and deaths of Indian military personnel. This study examines the likelihood of a strategic partnership between India and Taiwan. We begin by assessing India’s ‘Act East Policy’ and Taiwan’s ‘New Southbound Policy’ for any points of congruence between these two policies. We then propose an expected utility model of India’s decision calculus. Using the theoretical implication of the model, we then examine the likelihood of a strategic partnership along two dimensions—an economic and a defence–security partnership. This study argues that the value added by an economic strategic partnership between the two countries may be substantial, and the likelihood of such a partnership may be significant. However, the likelihood of a defence–security partnership is substantially less in the bilateral sphere, although at the multilateral level there are areas where defence cooperation can occur.

Edu-Connect and Southern Taiwan's Dreams of an Imagined Region

In 2016, the island-nation of Taiwan launched its New Southbound Policy (NSBP) to improve its cooperation efforts to Southeast Asian countries. However, even prior to the “look-south” attitude, a private organisation in Southern Taiwan has already initiated their own partnership efforts to Southeast Asian counterparts a decade before. Named as the Edu-Connect Southeast Asia Association, the organisation aims to create an integrated region by starting with the Philippines through the employment of city learning tours to Kaohsiung City to promote academic and business linkages. This commentary offers an appraisal about its activities by attempting to locate them in the extant literature. While regionalization attempts through education is no longer a novel approach, the Edu-Connect faces a number of challenges and opportunities in its engagement with the Philippines higher educational sector particularly in the following issues, namely, the unique status of its institutional partners in the Philippines, the potential of universities to emerge as game-changers in international affairs, the tendency of polarizing views dictated by the dichotomy of classifying countries as developed and developing, power asymmetries between Southern Taiwan and Philippine universities, and certain issues on its social entrepreneurship operations.

Internationalization initiatives of Taiwan's higher education: a stepping stone to regional talent circulation or reproduction of unbalanced mobility scheme?

PurposeAs an emerging market of international education, Asian countries ambitiously launched internationalization initiatives and strategies to attract international talent. Since the 1990s, Taiwan's government has implemented various internationalization policies. Partly affected by the political forces of neighboring China, Taiwan's government launched the New Southbound Policy (NSP) as the main regional strategy in 2016. One of the aims of this strategy was to promote mutual talent mobility between Taiwan and New Southbound Policy countries (NSPC). The purpose of this study is to explore how the NSP influences the student mobility scheme in Taiwan.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopted the qualitative document analysis to investigate and compare the major Asian countries' internationalization focus and summarize Taiwan's internationalization development process and policy priorities. Moreover, a qualitative approach was adopted in order to collect data from 2005 to 2018 to examine Taiwan's student mobility scheme under the policy change.FindingsUnder the influence of the NSP after 2016, the student mobility scheme between Taiwan and NSPC could be categorized into five categories in accordance with the mobility rate. Although the nation-driven policy was considered powerful, the unbalanced flow between Taiwan and NSPC became severe.Research limitations/implicationsThe study lacked statistics on the degree level of outbound Taiwanese students going to NSPC. It could not compare the student mobility scheme between Taiwan and NSPC by degree level.Originality/valueThe research looked at the initiatives Asian countries have developed in order to raise higher education internationalization and regional status, which shed light on the national/regional approaches under the global change.

A Legal Analysis of Taiwanese International Investment Agreements: Focusing on the Bilateral Investment Agreements under the New Southbound Policy

A Legal Analysis of Taiwanese International Investment Agreements: Focusing on the Bilateral Investment Agreements under the New Southbound Policy

Taiwan’s new southbound policy: the cooperation and exchanges of human resources and the impacts on the education cooperation between Taiwan and Vietnam

The economic boom in the 1970s has allowed Taiwan to rise as one of the ``four dragons'' in East Asia. In the late 1990s, the Taiwanese government set up a ``Go South policy'' to strengthen and expand the relationships in trade and investment between Taiwan and Southeast Asian countries, including Vietnam. The results gained from the process of implementing the ``Go South policy'' have paved the way for the birth of the ``New Southbound Policy''. In 2016, President Tsai Ing-wen initiated the ``New Southbound Policy''. This policy is people-centered, actively promotes bilateral exchanges and cooperation between Taiwan and countries in Southeast Asia and South Asia in the fields of human resources, manufacturing, and investment. education, culture, tourism, agriculture..., in which special attention is paid to cooperation in education - training and high-level human resource exchange. This policy will create significant impacts on Vietnam's overall relationship with Taiwan, especially in the field of education and human resource development. In Taiwan's perception, Vietnam is the first choice because this is a country with stable economic development, large market ownership and diverse consumer demand. On that basis, the paper focuses on the formation and implementation of Taiwan's ``New Southbound Policy'' on human resources development. In addition, the article assesses the impact of Taiwan's ``New Southbound Policy'' on the present and future cooperation between Taiwan and Vietnam in the field of education.

Framing the New Southbound Policy in Western Media

The New Southbound Policy (NSP) is the key issue in the economic policy agenda of Tsai Ing-wen, the President of the Republic of China. The aim of the article is to examine through the quantitative analysis the content of Western media as well as a group of Asian media outlets about the NSP in order to depict the NSP’s image. Twenty-three websites of newspapers, magazines, radio (Voice of Vietnam) and television (CNA) channels have been under the research process. There are two hundred five research units which were identified as news features concerning the New Southbound Policy. Generally, the idea of New Southbound Policy is simultaneously drawn in the media outlets' content as an economic and political agenda. The NSP was introduced both to reduce the economic dependence from China and to raise Taiwan's international visibility in the Southeast and South Asia region. In such media content, Taiwan has usually been shaped in a positive way as a vibrant democracy and responsible member of international community complying with the important global issues, such as the UN Sustainable Development Goal, e.g., the UN Climate Framework Convention. Eventually, the New Southbound Policy is being framed as a positive concept that shapes attractive Taiwan's image.

Overview and Analysis of Industry in Vietnam under Taiwan’s Southbound Policy

Taiwan proposes southbound policy from 1993 until now. But this policy doesn’t tell which industries are suitable for entering into each country? Also, Taiwan was ranked number one to investment Vietnam from 2001 to 2006. Therefore, this research uses regression model to analyze which industries are currently suitable for investment in Vietnam. The research period is from January 05 2009 to October 01 2019, and the research results show that the appropriate industries are slightly from Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi markets.

Exploring internationalization of Halal Taiwan: Analysis of Taiwan’s halal food products in Malaysia

Taiwan is one of the emerging players in the global halal industry. Since the launching of its New Southbound Policy in late 2016, the country has been aiming to move rapidly into the lucrative global halal markets through its brand of Halal Taiwan. However, thus far, the current state of its halal campaign in the international market is not yet identified. This study intends to fulfill this gap by exploring the internationalization of Taiwanese halal-certified food products that are exported to Malaysia. This qualitative study observed the availability of made in Taiwan halal food products at thirteen supermarkets and convenient stores in Kuala Lumpur and greater Klang Valley in Malaysia, as well as on two major online shopping platforms. The study found that the internationalization strategy of Taiwanese halal food products in Malaysia is characterized by the offering of product variety mainly for impulse purchase with high affordability. However, in terms of number and range of products, as well as the establishment of brand identity, it is found that Taiwan is lacking behind South Korea and Japan. The latter two are Muslim-minority countries that fast becoming emerging players in the global halal market. Implications for policy and managerial practices are also discussed. Keywords: internationalization, Taiwan, Malaysia, halal, food product, observation, supermarkets, convenient stores.

Chiao Fu's Overseas Investment Strategy

Chiao Fu is a traditional polyurethane foam manufacturer from Taiwan. In 1990, in response to the overseas expansion of major buyers and increasing production costs, Chiao Fu invested in both China and Thailand. For nearly 30 years, the company has developed along with the economic growth of these two host countries. However, the different political, social, and cultural backgrounds of China and Thailand have led to various changes in economic and industrial development trends. Chiao Fu may continue to pursue growth in China and enjoy the cultural and linguistic advantages that Taiwanese companies have benefitted from in the vast and fast-growing Chinese market. Alternatively, given the harsh regulatory conditions in China, the rise of local players, and the Taiwanese government's New Southbound Policy, Thailand is seemingly increasingly attractive to Chiao Fu because of its political stability and economic outlook. With limited resources, Chiao Fu has come to another major decision point after 30 years of overseas expansion. Accordingly, this case study enables us to examine how small and medium-sized enterprises develop overseas expansion strategies and face challenges generated by social and political changes.