The government needs to take action on proposals made at an economic conference two months ago which promote the free flow of foreign workers and services in order to move the economy forward, said the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Taipei in a statement yesterday.
"The number of foreign white-collar workers a company may hire should be a business decision, not a regulatory decision," the statement said, adding that limits on how many foreigners work at a given company should be axed.
"Intellectual talent doesn't come via a passport or a specific nationality. Don't let that be a roadblock for businesses to progress globally," said Richard Henson, president of AmCham.
Failure to implement policy proposals such as these will seriously hinder Taiwan's ability to become a regional operations center for multinational firms, and "the chamber is concerned that companies already based here ... are starting to leave because of better incentives elsewhere in the region," the statement said.
The statement cites Hong Kong, Singapore and Shanghai as places with far fewer restrictions than Taiwan on certain personnel issues, pointing out that these are major competitors for regional offices.
AmCham, the largest foreign business group in Taiwan, is pushing the government to move forward on these and other economic reforms discussed at the Economic Development Advisory Conference (EDAC).
The statement from AmCham highlights a handful of the 322 proposals that achieved consensus at the EDAC conference convened in August. This conference brought together politicians from all parties, business leaders and academics to find government policy solutions to Taiwan's deteriorating economy. The government promised to implement all proposals that won consensus at the meeting.
Immediately after the EDAC, AmCham's Henson implored the government to move forward on the policy changes as quickly as possible. He cited the six-year development plan put forth by Taiwan 10 years ago and the Asia Pacific Regional Operations Center initiative proposed five years ago as examples of how the government promises a lot, then drags its feet on implementing decisions reached at such meetings.
The AmCham statement issued yesterday said the legislative and executive branches of Taiwan's government need to quickly adopt and implement the recommendations made at the EDAC conference.
"The transparency of the [EDAC conference] augers well for the next step: concrete action," the statement said.
Aside from rules surrounding the employment of foreign workers, AmCham implored the government to embrace economic change by easing the nation's reliance on original equipment manufacturing.
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