Stimulus spending and other emergency measures have set the stage for global economic recovery, but nations must push ahead with free trade and investment to ensure growth, US President Barack Obama and fellow Asia-Pacific leaders said yesterday.
Obama and 20 other leaders, meeting in Singapore for the annual APEC forum, rejected protectionism and agreed to develop long-term strategies that take into account the diverse needs of economies in a region stretching from Chile to China.
GROWTH PARADIGM
Recovery is not yet on a solid footing and the region “cannot go back to growth as usual,” Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (李顯龍) said, reading from a joint statement by the APEC leaders. “We need a new growth paradigm. We need a fresh model of economic integration. We will pursue growth which is balanced, inclusive and sustainable, supported by innovation and a knowledge-based economy, to ensure a durable recovery that will create jobs and benefit our people.”
To that end, APEC members pledged to maintain economic stimulus policies until a durable recovery had clearly taken hold.
Nations must work toward “strong, sustainable and balanced global economic growth,” with policies that expand opportunities for all — including women and small business owners — take better care of the environment and promote development, while reducing poverty and ensuring security, they said.
There was no mention of currency rates in the final statement, despite finance ministers’ calls earlier in the week for maintaining “market-oriented exchange rates.”
That was a reference to the yuan, which critics say is kept artificially undervalued, making exports of other countries less competitive.
EXCHANGE RATES
Asked if leaders discussed the argument that controlled exchange rates such as China’s constituted a form of protectionism, Lee said: “Some leaders expressed their concern about the possibility of currency movements that could become unstable and the potential problems that could arise if governments had to continually intervene in order to manage their currencies.”
A push for concrete goals for reductions of greenhouse gas emissions was omitted from the statement. A previous draft had pledged a 50 percent reduction from 1990 levels by 2050, but the final communique committed only to working toward “an ambitious outcome” at climate talks in Copenhagen next month.
WAY STATION
Obama and other world leaders agreed yesterday that the Copenhagen summit would be merely a way station, not the once hoped-for endpoint in the drive for a new global climate change treaty.
The World Wildlife Fund’s Global Climate Initiative said the leaders must begin taking stronger action.
“Deleting, rather than strengthening, emission reduction targets in their leaders’ declarations — like they did here in Singapore — is certainly not a solution,” spokeswoman Diane McFadzien said in a statement. “Leaders have to take the bull by the horns and finally tackle the difficult questions, instead of constantly avoiding them.”
The Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee yesterday approved proposed amendments to the Amusement Tax Act (娛樂稅法) that would abolish taxes on films, cultural activities and competitive sporting events, retaining the fee only for dance halls and golf courses. The proposed changes would set the maximum tax rate for dance halls and golf courses at 50 and 20 percent respectively, with local governments authorized to suspend the levies. Article 2 of the act says that “amusement tax shall be levied on tickets sold or fees charged by amusement places, facilities or activities” in six categories: “Cinema; professional singing, story-telling, dancing, circus, magic show, acrobatics
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
INFLATION UP? The IMF said CPI would increase to 1.5 percent this year, while the DGBAS projected it would rise to 1.68 percent, with GDP per capita of US$44,181 The IMF projected Taiwan’s real GDP would grow 5.2 percent this year, up from its 2.1 percent outlook in January, despite fears of global economic disruptions sparked by the US-Iran conflict. Taiwan’s consumer price index (CPI) is projected to increase to 1.5 percent, while unemployment would be 3.4 percent, roughly in line with estimates for Asia as a whole, the international body wrote in its Global Economic Outlook Report published in the US on Monday. The figures are comparatively better than the IMF outlook for the rest of the world, which pegged real GDP growth at 3.1 percent, down from 3.3 percent
ECONOMIC COERCION: Such actions are often inconsistently applied, sometimes resumed, and sometimes just halted, the Presidential Office spokeswoman said The government backs healthy and orderly cross-strait exchanges, but such arrangements should not be made with political conditions attached and never be used as leverage for political maneuvering or partisan agendas, Presidential Office spokeswoman Karen Kuo (郭雅慧) said yesterday. Kuo made the remarks after China earlier in the day announced 10 new “incentive measures” for Taiwan, following a landmark meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) in Beijing on Friday. The measures, unveiled by China’s Xinhua news agency, include plans to resume individual travel by residents of Shanghai and China’s Fujian
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