Image building abroad a tough sell

As Taiwan's economic leaders do the rounds in the US and Europe in an attempt to stir up interest among foreign investors, hard truths about the government's ability to effectively manage the economy and its very stability remain tough factors to spin.

Last night Minister of Economic Affairs Lin Yi-fu (林義夫) was scheduled to depart for Europe for meetings with trade ministers of the UK and Germany and talks with foreign businesses on investment.

Lin's trip to bolster investment from abroad comes a month after Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Ling-san (林陵三) travelled to the US for similar meetings on the development and opportunities in Taiwan's transport and communication industry.

But while the nation's leaders attempt to drum up interest in Taiwan abroad, the country's image as a good place to invest continues to get beaten up at home by restrictive, unpredictable policies and a general lack of cohesive planning.

The government was delivered a powerful indictment over its mishandling of economic matters by the cool hand of Nita Ing (殷琪), chairwoman of Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (台灣高鐵), who last week named it as the riskiest factor in taking on the world's largest build-operate-transfer project.

On Thursday Ing blamed the Cabinet for not doing more to fend off a motion by legislators to end government funding for the NT$446.4 billion project, saying that such action could ward off future foreign investment in big-dollar infrastructure projects.

"[Foreign investors] won't be game to invest -- which will impact economic development and then we needn't bother talking about improving Taiwan's so-called international competitiveness," Ing said.

Slow action by the government on improving the management of haphazard water and electricity supplies to industrial parks has also topped the list of corporate concerns.

Of course droughts and flooding from typhoons can't be blamed directly on the government -- although the lack of a workable long-term water management plan has further eroded Taiwan's hopes of being a mecca for foreign investment

Chen Po-chih (陳博志), former chairman of the Cabinet-level Council for Economic Planning and Development, said last week that the government risked serious "loss of face" if it encouraged more foreign tourists to visit while infrastructure remained so poor.

The government's goal of attracting 5 million visitors to Taiwan under its new six-year national development plan should be aimed at local tourists, Chen said.

Even comparatively simple tasks, such as hosting Computex Taipei 2002 -- which is of vital importance to Taiwan's technology-focused economy -- appear beyond the government.

This year against a background of record attendance, the Taipei City Government couldn't coordinate with the Ministry of National Defense to postpone a midday air raid drill.

The wail of sirens and a temporary transport ban made it difficult for some foreign visitors to attend meetings, while also reminding them of another hazard to investing in Taiwan.

Adding to the muddled signals the government sends to businesses about the investment environment is the stability of the government itself and the unpredictability of its policies.

In their annual business confidence survey, members of the American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei said that "clear economic policies and political stability" were the top two governmental factors influencing their business here.