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Yu Shyi-kun asks businesspeople to remember Taiwan

Premier Yu Shyi-kun yesterday urged Taiwanese businesspeople operating in China to help beef up economic strength of their homeland.

Yu made the appeal while attending a meeting with senior executives of Taiwanese trade associations in China.

The premier said local busi-nesspeople with investments in China have contributed much to Taiwan's economic development over the past decade.

In his address, Yu also briefed representatives of Taiwanese trade associations in China on Taiwan's economic situation.

Stressing that Taiwan has outpaced Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan in terms of economic growth in recent years, Yu discredited the opposition claim that Taiwan's economy is in poor shape.

Yu attributed last year's record-high 5.17 percent unemployment rate mainly to the result of Taiwan's economic structural changes over the past decade. Yu said he is confident that the unemployment rate will drop to 4.5 percent by December and that the average annual jobless rate will fall to 4.83 percent this year.

Meanwhile, Yu said, Taiwan posted a 3.9 percent economic growth rate in the first quarter of this year while suffering a 0.08 percent decline in the second quarter due to the SARS outbreak.

"We believe that we'll be able to post 3 percent growth in the third quarter of the year," he said, adding that Taiwan's foreign exchange reserves have continued to break new grounds for 23 months in a row.

While Taiwan cannot compete with China in terms of the annual economic growth rate, Yu said, Taiwan has outperformed many other countries around the world. According to a World Economic Forum global competitiveness rating, Taiwan ranked seventh in 2001 and moved upward to third place last year.

Quoting the results of a survey by the Economist, Yu said Taiwan's business environment is the 18th best in the world and ranks third in Asia.

Yu further said the government's six-year national development plan is aimed at facilitating Taiwan's economic transformation to cope with China's rise as a new world manufacturing hub.
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