Issues placed in the "other opinions" category included a discussion of whether the Statute for Upgrading Industries (促進產業升級條例) should be scrapped in 2009, tax on companies' undistributed surplus earnings, local banks establishing branches in China, the trading of the Chinese yuan in Taiwan, easing of the 40 percent ceiling on China-bound investment and allowing Chinese banking companies to set up representative offices in Taiwan.
While issues that reached consensus included building a green value-added
island, creating world-class brands, encouraging the exploitation of
renewable energy, ensuring employment, and others that are either cliche, or
common senses that need no cross-spectrum large-scale conference to approve
them.
One anecdote that made the reporters burst into laugher during the
conference was the statement made by Vincent Siew (蕭萬長), who chaired the
first day of the conference. While participants were furiously arguing over
several disputes, he told them to knock it off and shove whatever with
controversy into “other opinions” to wrap up the meeting, because he was
late for his private gathering as he told the panel.
With no major breakthroughs or endorsements from conference participants, the challenge for Su to ensure his authority is not about how to implement the uncontentious measures on which consensuses were reached but in dealing with the thorny "other opinions."
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