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Taiwan may be off Special 301 List by end of the year

Although the US may again include Taiwan in its annual Special 301 Priority Watch List this year, it may de-list it by the end of the year to recognize the government's efforts to combat piracy, a Cabinet official said yesterday.

"As far as I know, the US government may remove Taiwan from its special 301 watch list by the end of the year, taking into account that Taiwan has been making its best efforts to combat counterfeiting and intellectual property rights infringements," said Minister Without Portfolio Hu Sheng-cheng (胡勝正).

Hu made the remark during a chat with the media yesterday.

The office of US Trade Repre-sentatives (USTR) is due to release its annual Special 301 Priority Watch List of countries identified as serious violators of intellectual property by the end of the month. Taiwan has been on the list for the past four years.

Hu also dismissed recent media reports that most government agencies are using pirated software.

"Overall, it's not a big problem in the central government because there are no incentives for officials to coerce their subordinates to do so," Hu said. "However, we don't rule out the possibility that the problem may be a little more serious in the local level."

Premier Yu Shyi-kun asked Cabinet agencies to find out whether they are using any pirated software in their offices after learning of the allegations.

Hu also said that he is personally optimistic that Taiwan will be able to forge a regional free-trade alliance with the US to prevent undue investment being di-verted to China.

"My intuition and professional judgement tell me that we'll be able to do so because we're one of the pivots in the Asia-Pacific market," Hu said.

Receiving US Undersecretary of Commerce for International Trade Grant Aldonas on April 11, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) suggested that Taiwan, the US and Japan forge the economic cooperation mechanism to prevent undue investment being diverted to China and sustain security in the Asia-Pacific region.

Hu, whose expertise is economics and social welfare, predicted that geriatric care has great

potential.

"Senior citizens account for about 8 percent, or 2 million, of the nation's population, and about 5 percent of them need help," Hu said.

To encourage the private sector to set up facilities to take care of the elderly, the Cabinet is studying the possibility of offering them such incentives as a tax reduction or low-interest loans.

"Our ultimate goal is to launch a national pension program in March 2004," Hu said.

The legislature has approved NT$16 billion for this year's budget for a monthly NT$3,000 pension for citizens who are over 65 and not covered under existing welfare programs.

The premier is scheduled to hear a briefing about the progress on the program from the Council for Economic Planning and Development (經建會) sometime next week.
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