Repositioning Taiwan in Southeast Asia: Strategies to Enhance People-to-People Connectivity

Abstract

In the 1990s, Taiwan advocated its first Go South Policy as a strategic move to construct regional links with Southeast Asian countries. Since President Tsai Ing-wen came to power in 2016, Taiwan has begun to redefine itself as well as its relations with regional neighbors. In the past, public discourse paid close attention to Taiwan’s interaction with Southeast Asia. In the present, Taiwanese society is more concerned with its role and networks in Southeast Asia and its contributions to the region. This shift reflects the fact that the multiple existing linkages between Taiwan and neighboring societies have already matured, and that prior iterations of the New Southbound Policy acted as a catalyst for these linkages.