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AmCham: Taiwan needs change

"If the foundation is weak, the bite loses its strength."

Jane Hwang, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei

The government should tackle underlying systemic problems so Taiwan can remain a dynamic economic player, the American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei (AmCham) said yesterday.

In its 2007 Taiwan White Paper released yesterday, AmCham said it was concerned that Taiwan, one of the Four Asian Tigers that rose during the early 1970s through the mid-1990s, had lost some of its bite while fellow Tigers Hong Kong, Singapore and South Korea had demonstrated vigorous strength as mature economies.

"We found the Taiwan Tiger so far has managed to keep its strong teeth and a formidable bite, especially in the high-tech sector," AmCham president Jane Hwang (黃素貞) said.

"But take a closer look at those gums. If the foundation is weak, the bite loses its strength," she said.

AmCham proposed areas where corrective action could give Taiwan's economy a significant boost, including relieving political wrangling that has pushed important economic issues from the public agenda; resolving a regulatory morass that includes inadequate transparency, violation of due process and legislator interference on behalf of private interests.

Improving cross-strait relations, such as flows of people, goods, services and investment, continued to be one of the top agenda of AmCham.

Regarding direct transport links, Hwang said: "We are saying this for 15 years and there is nothing more to be said ? just do it!"

The issue of direct links with China has been raised by the European Chamber of Commerce in Taipei (ECCT) as a top agenda item many times, but has not been resolved. The absence of direct links with China will continue to hold up Taiwan's further integration into the regional economy, it said in a release on Wednesday.

Expanding trade relations with the US through swift progress in Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) negotiations is another major push for Taiwan's economy, the white paper said.

TIFA is a stepping stone to any Taiwan-US free trade agreement (FTA).

Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Hsieh Fa-dah (謝發達) said on Tuesday that the Office of Trade Negotiations and the Bureau of Foreign Trade were preparing for TIFA negotiations to be held in the US next month.

Hwang will lead an AmCham delegation to Washington to discuss the white paper with US officials. One mission for the US is to lobby for an extension on the FTA negotiations with Taiwan, AmCham chief executive officer Richard Vuylsteke said.

Other issues listed in the white paper for improvement include upgrading water and power systems, reforming the taxation system and improving intellectual property rights (IPR) protection.

In response, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday in a statement that part of the issues raised in the white paper had been covered by the Cabinet's "Big Investment, Big Warmth" plan proposed in September.

Regarding IPR protection, the ministry's Intellectual Property Office (IPO) announced yesterday that it would recall compulsory licensing of five essential CD-R patents of Royal Philips Electronics NV that it granted local disc producer Gigastorage Corp (國碩科技) in June last year.

The Dutch company previously said that Taiwan has violated WTO rules by granting the patents and may take the case to the WTO panel.

The recall is made under the request of both Royal Philips and Gigastorage, the IPO said in a statement. Gigastorage has stopped producing CD-R products in Taiwan, making the licensing unnecessary, the IPO said.
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