The nation's economy remains strong, and the Taiwanese people should be confident about their country, Premier Frank Hsieh (
"The figures say it all. All the statistics indicate growth in Taiwan's business activities, and foreign investments have shown no signs of flagging either," Hsieh said in his opening speech at the weekly Cabinet meeting yesterday morning.
He said that although a deluge of negative reporting has seriously damaged Taiwan's image in the run-up to the Dec. 3 local elections, foreign investments have not been interrupted.
"Foreign investors don't watch Taiwan's TV talk shows or read our newspapers, since they don't understand [the language]," he said.
"As a result, the negative media coverage of Taiwanese politics did not make them change their mind [about investing in Taiwan,] which is a good thing. Nonetheless, they actually made the right decision," Hsieh said.
He added that since people abroad generally pay no attention to local newspaper coverage or TV talk shows, they have a better perspective on what's really happening in the country.
According to Hsieh, the unemployment rate for last month dropped to a five-year low of 4.07 percent, while 29.89 percent of the nation's stocks, valued at NT$4.3 trillion (US$1288.4 billion), are owned by foreign investors.
"This is a sign that foreign investors are still confident about the economy," Hsieh said.
In addition, the number of foreign visitors has shown no signs of declining, and the premier said he believed even more foreign tourists will visit in the future.
"We just welcomed the millionth Japanese tourist [this year] a few days ago. I believe that was only the beginning," he said.
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