ASEAN Measures against the Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic in Relation to the Agri-Food Sector and its Cooperation with Taiwan, India and CJK

Abstract

This paper reviews Taiwan’s New South Bound Policy. The main analysis outlines the areas, particularly in agriculture, in which Taiwan can strengthen its partnership with ASEAN countries and India. It is a review paper that carries out interpretive work on prevailing measures and initiatives and contextualizes them in a regional perspective with selected examples that does not pretend to be comprehensive. The paper concludes with a discussion on other potential areas of collaboration related to smart cities. It would be helpful for understanding the potential importance for Taiwan’s partnership with ASEAN and possibly other Asian countries, including China, India, Japan, and South Korea. Taiwan’s New Southbound policy intends to intensify the partnership between Taiwan and ASEAN/India in the field of agriculture to help New Southbound Policy countries to meet their (and global) growing demand for foodstuffs and food cooperation and to export precision Agriculture 4.0 technologies to ASEAN countries under the New Southbound Policy. The outcome of such agricultural outreaches is Taiwan’s augmented collaboration with New Southbound Policy countries in the fields of agriculture, fisheries aquaculture, green technology, climate change, and others. They include Vietnam and the Philippines in Southeast Asia that can benefit from Taiwanese knowhow and advanced technologies in this field. The objective is to integrate into the global economy with wealthier consumers and business community enthusiastic to consume the high-quality Taiwanese products/services.