President Tai Ing-wen told a select group of journalist from the two regions that Taipei wants to seal free trade agreements with countries in the regions.

The president received journalists from Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines and India on Friday at the Office of the President Republic of China in Taipei. She gave the interview in both Mandarin and English.

Taiwan already has FTAs with Singapore and New Zealand and wants to add Thailand and other countries in the Asia-Pacific region.

After taking office a year ago, she initiated the New Southbound Policy (NSP), aimed at strengthening cooperation with Asean and South Asian nations, as well as Australia and New Zealand.

Past southbound policies emphasised developing market and short-term business opportunities. The NSP is different.

“This time we are setting down a long-term policy agenda that places focus on wide-range cooperation. This mutually beneficial arrangement will put people at the heart of what it does,” according to the statement released by the President Office.

“The New Southbound Policy isn’t about making a political statement in the region, but it is about how we can build more mutually beneficial relationships with the international community, and the community here in Asia.

“It’s taking another look at how Taiwan can play a more proactive role in a community of so many close neighbours,” she said.

Apparently she was clarifying a misunderstanding that she might try to play politics with China and the United States after US President Donald Trump called her, which angered China.

“Let me repeat. It is not about geopolitics. It is about economics and trade,” she said.

Her NSP and China’s Belt and Road Initiative are two completely different models. This cannot be replaced or blocked by either money or politics, she said.

One of her flagship projects is people exchanges through encouraging Taiwanese students to study abroad and offering scholarships to foreign students for studying in Taiwan.

Malaysian and Thai students studying in Taiwan reached 16,051 and 1,749 last year.

The government has worked with companies to grant financial assistance to students from Asia-Pacific in particular. Taiwan has a friendly immigration policy.

The government has encouraged foreign students completing their studies here to work with local companies for a while before going back to their countries.

Taiwan appreciates very much migrant workers’ contribution to economic development in the country.

Taiwan has relationships with Beijing and Washington to maintain and keep in balance. This requires careful management.

There are also relationships in the region as equally important, such as those with Asean and South Asian countries.

Asean countries are powerful as a group, she added.