Taipei, June 15 (CNA) President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) approved guidelines for establishing the New Southbound Policy Office Wednesday, a pet project of hers that will be operated under the Presidential Office budget.

Presidential Office spokesman Alex Huang (黃重諺) said Huang Chih-fang (黃志芳), the designated director of the new office, will brief Tsai soon on the preparations for the establishment of the office that is aimed at diversifying Taiwan's foreign relations.

One of the highlights of the guidelines pertains to the mission of the new office -- proposing to the president strategies and methods of achieving the policy goals, Huang said.

The office will be a task force whose staff members will come from the Presidential Office or other government agencies, either on special assignments or on loan, Huang said.

If need be, the office will seek opinions from local and foreign academics, businesses and governments, while in order to complete its research projects, the office is authorized to ask the Executive Yuan and other administrative agencies to provide data and opinions, according to the spokesman.

(By Claudia Liu and S.C. Chang)
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