Written by Chia-Yuan Huang. This article reviews the shift of the origins of international students in higher education in Taiwan from mainland China to Southeast Asian nations such as Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia in the past few years. This could be attributed to the New Southbound Policy of the Tsai Ing-wen’s administration. This trend calls for more targeted admission policies and internships and job opportunities.
Written by Russell Sherrard-Smith. This article compares Taiwan’s DPP with the Liberal Party of the Philippines, focusing on party institutionalisation and how it contributes to our understanding of the quality of democracy. The author looks at the two parties’ systemness, centralisation, leadership stability and other factors that significantly influence the countries’ democratic development.
Written by Yi-Yu Lai. In the name of promoting multiculturalism in Taiwan, the new second generation is anticipated to utilise their intercultural ability to serve as a bridge between Taiwan and Southeast Asia. This article highlights that the assumption has caused increased anxiety among the new second generation if they are unable to prove their competence. It has also erased the internal disparities and the actual daily experiences of the individuals, making the historical injustice and their own agendas invisible.
Written by Tran Thi Mong Tuyen. Since the 1990s, Taiwan’s government has championed the “Go South” and “New Southbound” policies, catalyzing Taiwanese entrepreneurship across the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Vietnam, boasting a stable economy, ample labour force, a youthful demographic, and rich natural resources, has emerged as a prime destination. This article focuses on the recent cooperation between Taiwan and Vietnam in different industries, and proposes potential future collaborative opportunities between the two.
Written by Min-Hua Chiang. William Lai (Lai Ching-te) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) secured his election as Taiwan’s 16th president on January 13, 2024. As the DPP extends its rule for another four years, the administration is likely to maintain President Tsai Ing-wen’s economic policies, notably diversifying the economy away from China. Navigating Taiwan’s export-oriented economy through the evolving US-China relationship will pose the most significant challenge for the new administration.
Written by Yi-Yu Lai. Lennon Wong is the director of a shelter for migrant workers in Taiwan. Before joining the shelter in the early 2010s, he was already a labour activist and worked in the Chinese Federation of Labour and the First Commercial Bank Union. Although his prior work was not directly relevant to migrant workers in Taiwan, his engagement with the labour movement may have started with the issue of migrant workers from Southeast Asia. As a result, we may thus understand the cross-border movement of migrant workers between Taiwan and the Philippines through some of his observations.
