Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
Ma quoted Paal as saying that the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) had been losing members over the past few years, indicating that more and more US businesses are leaving Taiwan because of uncertainties regarding the country's major economic policies toward China.
"The number of AmCham members is declining every year," Ma quoted Paal, director of American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), as saying yesterday after a closed-door meeting. "It dropped from 900 to 800 last year, and to 700 this year.
"I asked Paal why US businesses are leaving Taipei, and he said it is mainly because of uncertainties about many of Taiwan's major policies, especially in terms of cross-strait relations.
"Paal said that staying in Taiwan would cause a great deal of inconvenience for these businessmen wanting to travel to China," Ma said.
Ma has long been supportive of opening direct transportation links, and has proposed designating Taipei's Sungshan Airport as the airport that could deal with direct flights with China.
However, the plan is opposed by the DPP administration, which favors Kaohsiung's Hsiaokang International Airport to handle the flights.
The mayor said: "At a time when the Taipei City Government has put tremendous efforts into luring foreign investment to Taipei, this scary figure has sent a worrisome message to us."
"These businessmen ... are leaving Taipei, withdrawing their investments from Taipei," he said.
Paal visited Ma yesterday to congratulate him on his victory in the Taipei mayoral election, and to consult with him on possible post-election pan-blue cooperation.
"Paal showed interest in pan-blue-camp cooperation after the Dec. 7 mayoral election, and he also expressed concerns over economic issues and Taiwan's future development regarding economic revival," Ma told reporters after the 40-minute, close-door meeting.
In addition to the uncertainty regarding cross-strait policies, Ma also said the AIT director had expressed his concerns over the protection of intellectual property rights (IPR).
"The US thinks that Taiwan's protection on IPR is still insufficient," Ma said.
Ma promised he would try to do more to protect IPR.
"Though Taipei City is not in charge of legislation on copyright protection, I gave Paal my promise that the Taipei City Government would do its utmost on this matter by studying better measures to crack down on IPR violations," Ma said.
The mayor also said Paal supported Ma's assertion that Taipei had improved as a place to live over the past four years.
"CNN's correspondent in Asia, originally stationed in Hong Kong, has moved to Tienmu, Taipei, and only goes to Hong Kong for important events. This means that Taipei's living environment is better than that of Hong Kong," Ma said.
AIT spokesperson Judith Mudd-Krijgelmans yesterday said that the AIT had no comment on Ma's remarks to the media regarding the contents of his meeting with Paal.
Paal on Wednesday visited Chang Chun-hsiung (
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