When President Chen Shui-bian (
It has now become a matter of urgency for the central government to put a stop to the unreasonable increase in public works spending by local governments.
The development of industrial zones is a typical example of how the the national resources have been misused. Under the Ministry of Economic Affairs alone, around 800 hectares of industrial zones across the nation remain vacant, which converts into an investment of NT$30 to NT$40 billion, which has not seen any return. Besides, the occupancy rate of industrial zones under the National Science Council is just 50 percent.
Over the past few years, the transformation of the nation's industrial structure, Taiwan's economic slump, and changes in the domestic and international commercial structure of other countries have challenged the development of the nation's industrial zones.
In the past, industrial zones developed by the Industrial Development Bureau (IDB) had been competitive and profitable as the price of the land used by industrial parks across the nation was only one-third or two-thirds of the market price.
However, the stagnant economic growth of the nation has made it difficult for the government to sell off these industrial zones, either through state-run or private enterprises. The compounding of interest on these properties has pushed prices up even further, so that land in industrial zones is no longer competitive with other areas.
The root of the problem lies with the provisions of government investment incentive programs and the Statute for Upgrading Industries (
On the technological and economic front, California's Silicon Valley is much stronger than Taiwan. Major chip-makers and optoelectronic component manufacturers are in the north of Silicon Valley and biotech companies are in the south. Using land for multiple purposes is becoming the mainstream idea, and each county or region can also have a distinctive industry. Clearly, this is something the government can learn from the US.
According to statistics, there are currently nearly 2,500 hectares of land that the government has approved or is in the process of approving for use as industrial zones. If we add the land already available for these purposes, there is sufficient land designated for industrial zones to meet the needs of the next five years. Quantity is clearly not a problem and we should now focus on quality.
Local governments should take careful account and plan for the future, rather than rushing ahead and then looking for support from the central government further down the track. The government should first seek to draw up an effective and comprehensive plan regarding public works projects, such as industrial zones, airports and harbors. It shouldn't give local governments a free hand to use such projects to pay/settle political debts, in total disregard for the needs of the market, for such political interference will ultimately harm the nation's economic development.
Andrew Huang is the director of the National Volunteer Association.
TRANSLATED BY DANIEL CHENG
Chinese actor Alan Yu (于朦朧) died after allegedly falling from a building in Beijing on Sept. 11. The actor’s mysterious death was tightly censored on Chinese social media, with discussions and doubts about the incident quickly erased. Even Hong Kong artist Daniel Chan’s (陳曉東) post questioning the truth about the case was automatically deleted, sparking concern among overseas Chinese-speaking communities about the dark culture and severe censorship in China’s entertainment industry. Yu had been under house arrest for days, and forced to drink with the rich and powerful before he died, reports said. He lost his life in this vicious
George Santayana wrote: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” This article will help readers avoid repeating mistakes by examining four examples from the civil war between the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) forces and the Republic of China (ROC) forces that involved two city sieges and two island invasions. The city sieges compared are Changchun (May to October 1948) and Beiping (November 1948 to January 1949, renamed Beijing after its capture), and attempts to invade Kinmen (October 1949) and Hainan (April 1950). Comparing and contrasting these examples, we can learn how Taiwan may prevent a war with
A recent trio of opinion articles in this newspaper reflects the growing anxiety surrounding Washington’s reported request for Taiwan to shift up to 50 percent of its semiconductor production abroad — a process likely to take 10 years, even under the most serious and coordinated effort. Simon H. Tang (湯先鈍) issued a sharp warning (“US trade threatens silicon shield,” Oct. 4, page 8), calling the move a threat to Taiwan’s “silicon shield,” which he argues deters aggression by making Taiwan indispensable. On the same day, Hsiao Hsi-huei (蕭錫惠) (“Responding to US semiconductor policy shift,” Oct. 4, page 8) focused on
In South Korea, the medical cosmetic industry is fiercely competitive and prices are low, attracting beauty enthusiasts from Taiwan. However, basic medical risks are often overlooked. While sharing a meal with friends recently, I heard one mention that his daughter would be going to South Korea for a cosmetic skincare procedure. I felt a twinge of unease at the time, but seeing as it was just a casual conversation among friends, I simply reminded him to prioritize safety. I never thought that, not long after, I would actually encounter a patient in my clinic with a similar situation. She had
RSS