TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — The seventh annual Yushan Forum, organized by the Taiwan Asia Exchange Foundation, is set to kick off on Wednesday (Oct. 11) at the Taipei Grand Hyatt Hotel.
This year’s forum is themed "Start a New Blueprint for Asia Development” and includes academics, experts, and opinion leaders from like-minded nations and partner countries of Taiwan's New Southbound Policy (NSP), per a foreign ministry statement. They will discuss the links and cooperative development of the NSP and other countries' Indo-Pacific policies.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is expected to deliver the opening speech on Wednesday, while Vice President Lai Ching-te (賴清德) will speak at the Asia Forward Roundtable Dialogue on Oct. 12. Other important foreign dignitaries include President of Nauru Russ Joseph Kun, former Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison, former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Kelly Craft, and Japan-ROC Diet Members' Consultative Council Chair Furuya Keiji, among others.
Taiwan has been hosting the Yushan Forum since its inception in 2017. This regional dialogue platform spotlights Taiwan's characteristics and has become an important window for various countries to learn about the results of Taiwan's implementation of its New Southbound Policy, the foreign ministry said.
“Taiwan will continue to use diverse channels to strengthen the Yushan Forum and deepen cooperation between Taiwan's NSP and other nations’ Indo-Pacific strategies,” the ministry added.
The NSP was established in 2016 during Tsai’s first term in order to reduce the economy’s dependence on China and foster closer economic, cultural, and educational ties with 18 countries in the region.
Last month, Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Chen Chern-chyi (陳正祺) lauded the policy’s fruitful results in foreign trade and investment relations. In 2022, trade reached US$180.3 billion (NT$5.75 trillion), with Taiwan’s exports to the 18 countries totaling US$96.9 billion, Chen said.
Both figures were all-time highs, he pointed out. Investments by Taiwanese businesses in NSP countries surged by 120% since 2016, he added.
