The Taiwan-Asia Exchange Foundation (TAEF) marked its eighth anniversary in Taipei on Thursday, August 6, with calls to expand Taiwan’s regional partnerships across technology, trade, civil society, and people-to-people exchanges.

Speaking at the event, TAEF Chairman Michael Hsiao (蕭新煌) said the foundation plans to develop a broader Indo-Pacific strategy centered on four pillars: security and defense resilience, economic and production supply chains, democratic value chains, and networks of friendship and mutually beneficial cooperation.

Hsiao also said the foundation, established in 2018 to support the New Southbound Policy—Taiwan’s initiative to deepen ties with Southeast Asia, South Asia, Australia and New Zealand—plans to hold a Manila-Taipei Dialogue in January.

Vice Foreign Minister Ger Baushuan (葛葆萱) described TAEF as an important policy think tank supporting Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy and relations with Indo-Pacific countries. The Foreign Ministry will continue working alongside TAEF to “advance together with like-minded countries,” Ger said.

India Taipei Association Director General Ninad Deshpande said TAEF had established itself as “an important platform for dialogue, research and people-to-people engagement” over the past eight years.

The India-Taiwan partnership had become “broader, deeper and more diverse,” the de-facto Indian ambassador to Taiwan said, citing multiple fields including semiconductors, smart manufacturing, artificial intelligence, clean technology, as well as more traditional industries.

Singapore Trade Office in Taipei Deputy Trade Representative Timothy Seow said Taiwan became Singapore’s largest trading partner last year, with bilateral trade reaching US$130 billion.

“One reason these numbers have jumped so much is that there is a formidable electronics and semiconductor value chain” stretching between Taiwan, Singapore, India, and many countries in Southeast Asia, Seow said.