THE recently-concluded Taiwan Expo 2017 served as a catalyst for Taiwan and the Philippines to mutually discover each other’s importance in terms of national developments in the years to come.
In a press statement from Taiwan’s embassy in Manila, it said that despite the two countries being “close neighbors”, both have long overlooked each other and are actually “neighboring strangers”.
It said that since 2004, for more than 13 years, Taiwan has never organized any large-scale exhibition in the Philippines, and vice versa.
To implement Taiwan’s “New Southbound Policy”, the Taiwan External Trade Council and the Taiwan Association (Philippines) jointly organized the said exposition.
This year’s Taiwan Expo, which took place from September 28 to October 1, featured more than 240 booths by over 190 exhibitors from Taiwan’s public and private sectors representing around 4,500 products, services and technologies. It comprised of eight pavilions showcasing agricultural technology, urban marketing, cultural tourism, education, health and lifestyle, general services, innovative technology and Taiwan enterprises in the Philippines.
The event highlighted Taiwanese products in the local market, including those in green technology, medical solutions, aquaculture technology and agriculture technology.
Aside from the Taiwan Expo 2017, a Philippines-Taiwan Industrial Collaboration Summit was also held to explore opportunities of cooperation in the industries of green technology, industrial zone development, information and communication technology, as well as machinery.
During the summit, various industries and institutions signed six collaboration memoranda of understanding.
Moreover, during the Philippines’s Department of Science and Technology and Taiwan’s Ministry of Science and Technology prereview meeting, a bilateral cooperation will be expanded in the spheres of health, agriculture, artificial intelligence and start-ups, among others.
In the area of education, the Taiwan Expo 2017 also marked a new milestone for the two countries’ educational exchange and cooperation as 21 Taiwanese universities participated in the expo.
With the Philippines increasingly requiring highly educated talents to help drive its growing economy, the event served as an excellent opportunity to encourage young scholars to pursue tertiary education in Taiwan.
More important, as the Philippines has the biggest English-speaking population in Asean complemented by energetic and talented professionals, Taiwan’s Ministry of Education has pinpointed the country as the “Shining Gem” and “Pearl of the Orient” in Asia, being an important partner to Taiwan for the educational cooperation.
To strengthen the Philippine-Taiwan educational cooperation, the latter has set up an Education and Resource Center in Makati City functioning as a platform to facilitate the exchanges in education and culture.
Furthermore, a forum for various universities’ presidents of the two countries will be established, while a new proposal to send Philippine university lecturers and teachers to pursue further studies and doctoral degrees in Taiwan is under way.
Tyson Hsieh, a prominent Taiwanese community leader in the Philippines, has offered to provide 50 round-trip air tickets for the Filipino scholars to travel to Taiwan for such purpose. Taiwan will also furnish more scholarships for the Filipino students to study in Taiwan.
Another positive development is the upcoming announcement of the visa-free treatment for all Philippine nationals. The visa-free entry to Taiwan has been approved by Premier William Lai allowing Filipino citizens access for a 14-day stay there as part of the Taiwanese government’s efforts to promote people-to-people exchanges and tourism between its country and the Philippines. The effective date of the new visa-free program will be announced in due course.
To reciprocate this goodwill gesture, Taiwan also urged the Philippine government and the Manila Economic and Cultural Office to grant Taiwan nationals visa-free treatment, or at least to improve its visa arrangements, and reduce visa fees for them.
According to Taiwan’s representative to the Philippines Dr. Gary Song Huann-Lin, “In the time of a new era mixed with opportunity and uncertainty facing today’s world, let’s expand and strengthen [our] multifaceted cooperation and partnership, including more people-to-people engagement and interaction.”
He added, “By working together, we can build our prosperous, inclusive and innovation-led economics. It is my vision and dream that, as the closest neighbors, we can build a living economic community in which we can travel freely and our bilateral relationship will grow from strength to strength in the upcoming years.”
Dr. Lin, who is also the head of the Taiwan Economic Cooperation and Cultural Office in the Philippines (TECO), said his country will fully support the Philippines’s 10-point economic agenda and its national development plan.
“This is the best time for our two nations to strengthen our relationship. Likewise, our Southbound Policy coincides with our own national development plan,” the TECO representative said.
According to Dr. Lin, because of the Philippines’s policy to be a more inclusive government, “by 2022, [it] will become an upper- to middle-income level country enjoying prosperity and good lifestyle.”
“Definitely, through our partnership and common efforts, the Philippines and Taiwan will not only be close neighbors but also closest friends,” he added, speaking before a crowd of Filipino and Taiwanese businessmen as well as government officials.
Given the vibrant trade between the two countries, Dr. Lin said the Philippines is eighth among his country’s top 10 trading partners, noting that “last year, our two-way trade amounted to $10.8 million”.
He added that from January to the end of September this year, the number of Filipinos who visited Taiwan had increased to 182,000, compared to last year’s 170,000.
Following this trend, the TECO executive estimated there would be a 75-percent increase in Filipinos going their “neighbor to the north” next year with 200 flights serving the Taipei and Manila routes.
Dr. Lin echoed their Premier’s good news through President Tsai Ing-wen on the new southbound policy: “This reflects how we cherish our relations with the Philippines.”
With a report from Recto Mercene