High-tech migration law planned

Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠哲), Nobel laureate and president of the Academia Sinica, yesterday spoke out against proposed regulations to control the migration of Taiwanese high-tech experts to institutions in China.

Lee was addressing the Legislative Yuan's Sci-Tech and Information Committee at the committee's invitation.

"The freedom that the high-tech industry enjoys in Taiwan is a key factor in its success. If the government was to exercise rigorous control of the industry and its personnel, the industry would not benefit," he said.

Taiwan's ability to retain advanced technology and the experts required to ensure its continued development has been at the center of concerns about advanced-technology secrets since the Executive Yuan announced its decision in late March to allow Taiwanese manufacturers to establish eight-inch chip foundries in China.

The government promised when it announced the policy that it would introduce a National Technology Protection Law (國家科技保護法) -- to prevent the transfer of Taiwan's most advanced technological secrets -- and regulations that will require high-tech experts to obtain government permission before taking up posts in China.

Yesterday's meeting was held to discuss what form the regulations should take. Concerned officials and scholars were invited to express their opinions.

Lee said that, although he agreed that limits should be set to protect military secrets and intellectual property rights -- in accordance with the principle of non-intervention in the freedom of scientific research -- he disagreed with passing another law to control the flow of high-tech personnel.

"Since Taiwan still needs to import new technology, an atmosphere of openness will benefit Taiwan more than a closed atmosphere."

He added, "Strict rules to control the outward flow of high-tech experts will not only contravene the principles of democracy, they will also damage Taiwan's international image."

Lee complained that Taiwanese people tend to view relations between Taiwan and China as isolated from other international relations. He said that, in fact, technological exchanges between Taiwan and any third country could easily result in China obtaining Taiwanese technological secrets, because the two sides exist in "the same global, open-ended system." He said Taiwan can promote its competitiveness only by adopting an attitude of openness toward exchanges with others.

Mainland Affairs Council Vice Chairman Chen Ming-tong (陳明通), however, begged to differ.

Chen said that relations between Taiwan and China are very different from Taiwan's relations with any other country.

"We have to consider that China is a country which has many missiles along its coastal areas -- and these are aimed at Taiwan. The regulations we propose are aimed at protecting Taiwan's industry," said Chen.

Chen added that the purpose of the measure would be "to prevent Chinese companies from recruiting talented personnel from Taiwanese high-tech corporations."

The draft regulation lists five strategic high-tech industries whose personnel would be banned from taking posts in China.

They are semiconductor-production, semiconductor-design, aviation, shipbuilding and anaesthetics-production.

Experts in any of these fields would only be entitled to take up employment in China a year after leaving a Taiwanese employer.