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Foreign firms less satisfied with investments

Foreign companies doing business in Taiwan are less satisfied with the investment environment here from a year ago, which they said should be improved by opening direct cross-strait transportation and enhancing government efficiency, according to a survey released by the Chinese-language Global Views Monthly yesterday.

The magazine conducted the survey on foreign companies for a third consecutive year. This year, the monthly polled a total of 947 members of the American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei and the European Chamber of Commerce Taipei from Sept. 22 to Nov. 16. The poll received 115 valid responses.

The results showed that 47.8 percent of foreign companies were not satisfied with the government's handling of foreign investments, up from 35.9 percent a year ago, while only 10.4 percent were satisfied, down from 20.3 percent last year.

For the first 10 months of the year, foreign investment amounted to US$2.86 billion, a 1.73 percent decline from the same period last year, according to statistics of the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

The survey also showed that 78.3 percent of respondents said opening direct links with China should be the government's first priority, followed by efficiency enhancement (54.8 percent) and political stabilization (43.4 percent).

If direct cross-strait links were opened, 50.4 percent of the foreign enterprises said they would set up their regional operation in Taiwan, much higher than Shanghai with 27.8 percent and Hong Kong's 11.3 percent, the survey found.

Better quality staff, superior living environment, infrastructure and public security than those in China are all reasons that they stay in Taiwan, respondents said.

China has replaced the US as the nation's largest export destination since November 2002. In the first nine months of the year, bilateral trade between Taiwan and China amounted to US$51.81 billion, up 15.1 percent from a year earlier, and accounted for 19.0 percent of Taiwan's total external trade, the ministry said on its Web site yesterday.
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