The government yesterday expressed concern about the possible influence of China's revaluation of the yuan on the flow of capital across the Strait. A Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) official said the government would pay close attention to developments.
It is obvious that the local economy has become slanted toward China in terms of local investment across the Strait and that Taiwan has become dependent on its neighbor, council vice chairman Johnnason Liu (劉德勳) told a press conference yesterday.
"Therefore, we are concerned about what kind of influence the appreciation of the Chinese yuan will have on the current `structured slant,'" he said.
Liu declined to speculate what the effects of the yuan revaluation might be.
He also refused to detail the government's concerns.
"Although the appreciation of the Chinese currency might not change our cross-strait investment policy, the influence on the investment amount and on different industries is worth noting," he said.
Liu said that the government would decide how to deal with fluctuations in the Chinese currency in collaboration with relevant government departments.
He speculated that Beijing would continue to adjust the yuan's exchange rate gradually, but added that the decision to let the yuan fluctuate against a basket of currencies was a move of "great significance."
"It's a kind of reform moving toward a market economy. We are optimistic about this and will keep watching to see whether it will adopt further market reforms," Liu said.
"In the past, we have tried to establish a mechanism between Taiwan and China in a bid to facilitate the mutual flow of capital between them, but we failed to achieve concrete progress. We will keep watching to see what the influence of this move will be," he said.
Earlier yesterday, MAC Chairman Joseph Wu (
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