Facing the Changing International Situation, What is Tsai Ing-wen’s Strategy?

  Facing the Changing International Situation, What is Tsai Ing-wen’s Strategy?

United Daily News Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

December 10, 2017

 Translation of an Excerpt

The recent international situation has been treacherous and volatile. After North Korea successfully test-fired the Hwasong-15 intercontinental ballistic missile, the crisis in the Korean Peninsula intensified. At the same time, Sino- South Korea relations, mired in an impasse owing to the deployment of THAAD, however, showed indications of thawing as South Korea President Moon Sae-in is slated to visit Mainland China this week. On the other side of the world, US President Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, immediately igniting a new wave of Israeli-Palestinian confrontations, which will have a immense impact on the situation in the Middle East.

When changes are occurring in both the international big picture and in smaller regional areas, the public cannot detect what strategies the Tsai government has mapped out to cope and adjust. Tsai Ing-wen has used the "New Southward Policy” as the dual label for her foreign and economic policies.

In fact, not only ASEAN countries but even Japan is anxious for the Mainland China market and the free trade area by the soon-to-be-formed RCEP agreement. Under such circumstances, the Tsai government's New Southward Policy, obsessed with wishful thinking to rely on Japan as the regional economic engine or countries in the New Southward Policy as a hinterland, is obviously nothing but naïveté. Following Mainland China’s economic growth, the center of gravity of the global economic system has gradually been shifting from the United States to the Mainland. The Tsai government’s New Southward Policy intends to cut off its own regional economic position, obsessed with playing a role in the island chain during the cold war era, disregarding our own nation’s economy autonomy. How ignorant can one be about reality!

Tsai Ing-wen has been in office for nearly 20 months; cross-Strait relations have suffered setbacks, we do not know, however, what results her New Southward Policy has achieved. Looking at Moon Sae-in’s impending China visit, how is Tsai Ing-wen going to cope with this treacherous situation?

Attachment : none