Taiwan's Lai poised to build on Tsai's Southeast Asia outreach

JAKARTA -- Taiwanese President-elect Lai Ching-te will be looking to build on predecessor Tsai Ing-wen's policies after his inauguration in May, including deeper engagement with Southeast Asia that she leaves as part of her legacy.

In 2016, her first year as president, Tsai implemented what is known as the New Southbound Policy, which was aimed at reducing Taiwan's economic dependence on the People's Republic of China. It covers 18 countries -- all 10 members of ASEAN, six South Asian states, Australia and New Zealand -- none of which has diplomatic relations with Taipei. The idea was to encourage economic and trade cooperation as well as exchanges of talent and resource sharing, expanding Taiwan's connections across the region.