Taipei, June 8 (CNA) Investment into countries covered by Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy (NSP) increased by more than 90 percent in the first quarter of this year compared to the previous year, the Office of Trade Negotiations (OTN) of the Executive Yuan announced Saturday.
As Taiwan steps up efforts to improve economic ties with NSP countries, OTN data shows that Taiwanese investors invested a total of about US$2.72 billion in 18 countries across 80 projects from January to March, up 92.10 percent from the previous year.
Among 18 countries, Singapore, Vietnam and Thailand received the most investment from Taiwan in the three month period, according to OTN.
The New Southbound policy was launched by the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party’s Tsai Ing-wen administration in 2016 during its first term in power, targeting 18 countries in Southeast Asia, South Asia and Australia with the aim of reducing economic dependence on China.
The 18 countries are the 10 ASEAN member states (Thailand, Indonesia, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos), India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bhutan, Australia and New Zealand.
In addition to investment, OTN said bilateral trade with 18 countries reached $42 billion in the first quarter, up 11.9 percent from the same period last year.
According to OTN, Taiwan’s exports to 18 countries in the first quarter increased 28.6 percent from the same period last year to $26.1 billion, while imports fell 7.7 percent to $15.9 billion, giving Taiwan a trade surplus of $10.2 billion.
In terms of agricultural products, OTN said bilateral trade with NSP countries rose 2.7 percent year-on-year to $1.5 billion in the first quarter, while agricultural exports to these countries increased 11.7 percent year-on-year to $330 million.
According to OTN, in the first quarter, Taiwanese investors won bids for two engineering projects worth NT$15 million (US$255,116) initiated in NSP countries.
OTN said 15 researchers who were from NSP countries or studying issues in those countries visited Taiwan to conduct research in the first quarter.
In addition, a total of 33,907 students from NSP countries arrived in Taiwan to continue their studies, OTN reported.
To mitigate the impact of teacher shortages at overseas Korean schools in NSP countries, the Executive Yuan approved a plan to provide subsidies to these schools to hire 129 teachers in the first quarter, with the funds to be used mainly in northern Thailand, Myanmar, the Philippines and Brunei, according to OTN.
