Investment and talent needed in Taiwan, says vice chairman of MAC

Faced with an increasingly competitive China, the government should help create a favorable investment environment so Taiwan can maintain its edge in technological know-how and human resources, officials and industrialists said yesterday.

China, expected to enter the WTO later this year, will attract more foreign capital, said John Deng (鄧振中), vice chairman of Mainland Affairs Council, during a seminar in Taipei.

"WTO membership will further expand the Chinese market and upgrade its technology," Deng said. He added more capital and talents in Taiwan will move there and firms unable to increase their added value will shut down.

To cushion the impact, the cross-strait panel of the Economic Development Advisory Conference convened by the Presidential Office has suggested easing control on China-bound investment and lifting ban on direct flight across the Taiwan Strait.

The so-called "no haste, be patient" policy will be replaced by the principle of "active opening, effective management" whose contents have yet to be finalized.

Rock Hsu (許勝雄), president of Kinpo Electronics Inc, a member of the cross-strait panel, said the country, although suffering from rising unemployment, is lacking in high-tech talents.

He noted that electronic and telecommunications sectors need about 149,000 people each year but educational institutions can provide only 90,000.

To bridge the gap, the entrepreneur urged the government to help attract talents from abroad, including China, through legal restructuring.

"Germany, for instance, draws 50,000 people from other countries with assorted incentives among them the provision of permanent residency to 20,000 of them each year," Hsu told the audience.

He added that starting in 1989, his firm invested in Thailand, attracted by tax break and other preferential treatments.

"Today, Kinpo ranks the third largest firm there in terms of export output," Hsu said, advising the government to follow suit in its bid to make Taiwan competitive in an increasingly globalized economy.

To that end, he said it is necessary to establish direct flight between China and Taiwan, as buyers from the electronics and telecommunication industries allow little room for transport of purchased commodities.