Local manufacturers yesterday urged the icnoming government to develop policies that would aid businesses in a more liberalized international trade arena.
Specifically, the business leaders said the new government should focus on providing sufficient labor resources, preparing traditional industries for the Internet era and effectively managing cross-strait business policies.
Members of the Chinese National Federation of Industries (全國工業總會), one of Taiwan's top three business groups and an organization with close ties to the KMT, aired their wishes in a recent survey.
"In general, our members are confident with the new president's platforms on reforming social stability and more open policies of handling cross-strait business," said Lin Kun-chung (
According to Lin, group members' confidence was boosted by Chen Shui-bian's (
But there are areas that Chen will need to tackle, the survey found.
Insufficient entry-level manpower -- including local and foreign laborers -- as well as management professionals was identified as a key problem.
The group was particularly concerned over a possible labor shortage stemming from Chen's plan to decrease the number of foreign workers coming into Taiwan.
The move is aimed at protecting local employment.
Other major problems include the need to upgrade research and development capabilities, difficulties in land acquisition for new factories and obtaining capital. In addition, the survey found that strict environment protection evaluations were a problem.
Meanwhile, 68 percent of the members surveyed indicated support for the construction of the fourth nuclear power plant.
As for loosening restrictions on Taiwanese investment in China, 29.4 percent of the respondents were in favor of relaxing the "no haste, be patient" policy, while 52.4 percent saw no urgent need to revise the policy.
"Half of the respondents see no urgent need to revise the policy because it does not affect general investment cases or small and medium businesses," said Tsai Hong-ming (蔡宏明), a federation spokesman.
The "no haste, be patient" policy bars Taiwanese investment in China in amounts greater than US$50 million for a single project. In addition, investment in certain high-tech and infrastructure projects are prohibited.
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