Most issues dealt with already: CEPD

Some confusion seems to have arisen between the Council for Economic Planning and Develop-ment and the American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei over its just-released White Paper.

Schive Chi (薛琦), the CEPD's vice chairman, said yesterday that the government has already addressed many of the issues raised in the White Paper and this should have been reflected in an appendix to the paper.

However, no such appendix was delivered with copies of the paper which were distributed yesterday, and Richard Vuylsteke, executive director of AmCham, said he had no knowledge of such an arrangement.

"We have had at least two full consultation meetings since the paper was first drafted in June," Schive said. "At least 50 percent of the issues brought up have been resolved."

Vuylsteke did confirm that the meetings had taken place, and stressed that they had been "extremely productive." He also said that follow-up meetings would be held with the CEPD once an AmCham delegation had returned from its annual "doorknock" in the US. The doorknock is a trip conducted by AmCham every year to present its White Paper in Washington and meet with various US government officials.

He denied, however, that an attempt had been made to add an appendix to the paper at the last minute. "The White Paper is a magazine," he pointed out. It is included inside the September issue of AmCham's Topics magazine. "Its deadline was past."

Schive had obviously not seen a final copy of the White Paper himself at the time of the Taipei Times' phone call. "I phoned AmCham yesterday [Tuesday] to ask them to include the appendix reflecting the issues that were resolved. It should be there," Schive said.

The annual position paper outlined what the American business community sees as obstacles to doing business in Taiwan.

Among others, the paper cited government bureaucracy and regulations as some of the problems at hand.

Schive said some of the issues raised are not exclusive to Taiwan and that it is difficult to pinpoint market access problems.

"All countries have open market problems -- for example, in financial regulations," he said. "However, it is hard to distinguish whether the issue is one of market access or regulatory prudence. We encourage them (AmCham) to bring up more concrete and specific examples."

Schive also emphasized that some of the obstacles the paper raised are not targeted at foreign companies, but relate to national security and other political issues.

"We are not opposed to foreign companies taking part in the Offshore Transshipment Center, for instance, but they would also have to ask China," he said.

To bypass the ban on direct cross-strait links, the Offshore Transshipment Center allows foreign registered vessels to sail between Kaohsiung and ports on the mainland.

The White Paper sparked controversy in 1996/97 when it criticized President Lee Teng-hui's (李登輝) "go slow, be patient" (戒急用忍) policy towards mainland investment, and the ban on direct cross-strait links.

"We know the economic benefits of these issues, but the `go slow, be patient' policy and the ban on direct links are a matter of national security," Schive said, "and security and political concerns over-rule these economic issues."