To achieve cultural equity between the Northern and the Southern regions of Taiwan, and to drive the cultural, educational, social, and economic development in both regions, the Executive Yuan approved the building Southern Branch of the National Palace Museum(hereafter referred to as the "Southern Branch Museum") at Taibao City, Chiayi County on Dec. 31, 2004, setting the Southern Branch Museum as an "Asian Arts and Culture Museum." The Southern Branch Museum, originally scheduled for completion in 2008, was later postponed as a result of contractual disputes as well as the Typhoon Morakot, which created a flooding that measured 10.3 meters tall in the foundation. On Oct. 22, 2010, the project revision plan was completed and the building of the Southern Branch Museum was reinitiated. Regarding the construction of the Southern Branch Museum (i.e., the hardware component), related operations have been commissioned to the Construction and Planning Agency; while the curating of exhibitions (i.e., the software component) will be organized by the Southern Branch Museum. The Southern Branch Museum will feature main exhibitions that display artifacts from NPM's rich collection of artifacts while supplementing them with international loan exhibitions.

　　The Southern Branch Museum will actively plan a variety of awe-inspiring exhibitions to fulfill its duty as a museum for artifact collection, research, conservation, education, and exhibition as well as to introduce artifact-derived leisure and recreational activities, and engage in cultural and creative operations. In 2010, the second project revision plan was proposed, increasing the software construction budget to NT$834 million, for the acquisition of Asian artifacts and books. The entire construction budget totalled to NT$7.934 billion and the Southern Branch Museum is scheduled to open for trial operation on Dec. 28, 2015.