The ROC`s Foreign Aid and the Southward Policy

Abstract

This paper assumes that in Taipei`s foreign aid policymaking, political and economic motivations are intermingled. As an instrument of foreign policy, the ROC`s foreign aid program has been utilized to accomplish its Southward policy. This paper discusses the economic assistance that Taiwan has provided to the Philippines, Vietnam, and Indonesia, which are also the main focus of the ROC`s Southward policy. The mixture of political and economic motivations in the aid given by the International Economic Cooperation Development Fund (IECDF) to these three Southeast Asian countries has also exemplified the ROC`s recent internal and external dilemmas. From a regional perspective, the ROC`s Southward policy and its economic assistance to these Southeast Asian countries present the first concrete step in its involvement in the process of economic integration in the Asia-Pacific region.