More than US$563 million in investment bound for China was approved in the first three months of this year -- a record high and a 170 percent increase over the same period last year, according to the Investment Commission (
During the same period, Taiwanese investors were given the go-ahead to invest roughly US$1.51 billion overseas, a 130 percent increase over last year.
According to the ministry, 152 overseas investment applications were approved, mainly for investment bound for the Jiangsu, Guangdong and Fujian provinces. These areas attracted 86.27 percent of all investment headed to China.
Officials said the steep rise in investment dollars earmarked for China projects owed mostly to the larger sizes of individual applications.
In addition, China last year implemented new regulations and has been more vigorously enforcing tax laws, discouraging foreign and Taiwanese investments, officials said.
But now the prospect of China joining the WTO as well as the resumption of several preferential trade and investment measures has lured Taiwanese investors back.
When it comes to inward foreign investment, Taiwan has attracted money from Singapore, the Americas, the US, the Virgin and Camen Islands and Japan.
The top five investment sectors were services, finance and insurance, wholesale and retailing, electronic and electrical product manufacturing and construction. These sectors accounted for 93.28 percent of all foreign investment coming into Taiwan.
But it was the telecom market -- which is expected to see competition in the fixed-line sector soon -- that has been the most attractive to foreign investors. Ministry officials said foreign investment for this sector accounted for 53.65 percent of the total.
For March, the investment commission approved 53 investments bound for China totaling US$198.37 million.
Nanya Plastics (
Acer Peripherals Inc won approval to invest US$20 million in the scanner, telecom and monitor sectors. Hon Hai Prevision (
Charng Kao (高長), a director at the Chung-hua Institution for Eco-nomic Research (中華經濟研究院), noted that the monetary value of the approved applications do not actually reflect the amount of capital flowing from Taiwan into China.
In addition, Kao said he did not see recent reports of Chinese officials intimidating supporters of President-elect Chen Shui-bian (
"Market factors will remain dominant over political considerations for Taiwanese businessmen who are contemplating doing business in China, unless a war between both sides breaks out," Kao said.
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