Taiwan and its Southeast Asia Challenge
Taiwan’s awareness of the danger of dependence on the PRC market and the need for de-risking is nothing new and meant that it has always sought to diversify its economic relations. In the Taiwanese context, this has often led to looking south towards Southeast Asia. In the early 1990s, President Lee Teng-hui promoted the Go South Policy that was also adopted by President Chen Shui-bian in 2000-08. In 2016, President Tsai Ing-wen introduced her own version of this policy and renamed it the New Southbound Policy. Nine years hence, Taiwan’s Southeast Asia and Southeast Asia relations remain an ‘unrealised potential.’ Why does there seem to be a bottleneck in Taiwan’s relations with Southeast Asia? What are the constraints in this relationship? What are the factors that can help us understand the state of Taiwan-Southeast Asia relations.

Alexander C. Tan (陳永福) is Professor of Political Science and International Relations at the University of Canterbury, University Chair Professor of Political Science at the National Chengchi University (Taiwan), Honorary Professor of the New Zealand Defence Force Command and Staff College, Fellow of the John Goodwin Tower Center for Political Studies (Dallas, USA), and Founder and Principal Research Fellow at the Institute for Indo-Pacific Affairs (Christchurch, New Zealand). Alex received his PhD in political science from Texas A&M University, MA Economics from the University of California at Santa Barbara, and AB Economics from the Ateneo de Manila University. He was visiting scholar at universities in the US, UK, Germany, Japan, and Taiwan. Alex writes extensively in the areas of parties & elections, political economy, Taiwan and Asian politics, and international relations of the Asia-Pacific. Alex is editor of Frontiers in Political Economy and editorial board member of international academic journals such as Political Behavior, Asian Survey, Political Science, Issues and Studies, Journal of Asian Security & International Affairs, Politics and Governance, Politicka Misao, Journal of Electoral Studies, Korean Journal of International Studies. His recent books include Indo-Pacific Security: US-China Rivalry and Regional States’ Response (World Scientific Publishing, 2024); Asia-Pacific Small States and COVID-19: Political Economies of Resilience (Lynne Rienner Publishing, 2023).
Date: 13 February 2025, 17:00
Venue: Dickson Poon Building, Canterbury Road OX2 6LU
Venue Details: Kin-ku Cheng Lecture Theatre, Dickson Poon Building, University of Oxford China Centre
Speaker: Professor Alex Tan (University of Canterbury)
Organising department: Oxford School of Global and Area Studies
Organisers: Oxford Taiwan Studies Programme, Dr Bo-jiun Jing (University of Oxford)
Part of: Oxford Taiwan Studies Seminar Series
Booking required?: Recommended
Booking url: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/taiwan-and-its-southeast-asia-challenge-prof-alex-tan-canterbury-tickets-1215344300519?utm-campaign=social&utm-content=attendeeshare&utm-medium=discovery&utm-term=listin
Audience: Public
Editor: Bo-Jiun Jing