The sacking of Chongqing Chinese Communist Party (CCP) secretary Bo Xilai (薄熙來) is not expected to affect the operations of Taiwanese businesses in the city, companies said yesterday.
Asustek Computer Inc (華碩) and Acer Inc (宏碁) have production bases and their second operations headquarters in the city.
Xinhua news agency reported Bo’s removal earlier yesterday. He has been replaced by Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang (張德江).
Asustek said it believed that the political changes would not affect the economy or the company’s operations. However, it added that it would keep monitoring developments in the wake of what is seen as a major political event.
Acer said operations remained normal. Notebook computers made at the PC vendor’s Chongqing plant this year are expected to rise to 50 percent of its total production, from 35 percent at the end of last year, Acer president Jim Wong (翁建仁) said on Monday.
Other Taiwanese notebook contractors that have also moved some of their operations to Chongqing were more conservative in commenting on the political issue.
Quanta Computer Inc (廣達), the world’s largest contract maker of notebooks, said that as a business enterprise, it did not want to comment on politics.
However, it added that developing western China to boost the regional economy and stabilize the investment environment is a firm policy of China’s central government. Thus, investment strategies will basically remain unchanged, the firm said.
Quanta has moved 30 percent of its production to Chongqing.
Wistron Corp (緯創), one of Taiwan’s leading contract electronics manufacturers, said it would closely observe the situation and respond accordingly. It added that it would be inappropriate for a corporation to say too much about political issues.
Wistron does not have a large production base in Chongqing, but about 40 percent of its notebook products are expected to be manufactured in the city and in nearby Chengdu by the end of the year.
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