Government's six-year plan to develop a `green silicon island' divides critics

Critics are divided over the Cab-inet's NT$2.6 trillion, six-year national-development project to turn Taiwan into a "green silicon island" -- a nation devoted to clean high-tech industries.

Some say the project is aimed at winning support for the Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) administration ahead of the 2004 presidential election. Others simply argue that the project is aimed at making Taiwan a better place.

"Its purpose is clearly to win the 2004 presidential contest, because the Chen administration has to show the public that it's determined to do something to deserve another four years in power," said Norman Yin (殷乃平), a PFP lawmaker and a banking professor at National Chengchi University.

Chiang Ping-kun (江丙坤), legislative vice speaker and former chairman of the Cabinet's Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD) under the KMT, expressed the same opinion.

"It's obvious that the introduction of the six-year project serves the purpose [of winning the presidential contest]," he said.

"While Beijing will play host to the Olympic Games in 2008, the DPP-led government has to show to both the world and its people that Taiwan, too, has a promising blueprint to look forward to and that the island deserves some media attention in the international arena."

But the DPP's Chen Po-chih (陳博志), former CEPD chairman, disagreed.

"The six-year national project is definitely not designed to win the presidential election just two years away," Chen said.

"The idea of building a `green silicon island' had already been proposed when I chaired the CEPD. As we decided the ultimate goal of the project, the rest of plan kind of fell into place."

After 76 rounds of discussion and revision, the Cabinet finally approved the project on Wednesday.

The government hopes to create 700,000 new jobs, decrease unemployment from 5 percent today to 4 percent, boost GDP growth to 5 percent annually from 2.3 percent this year and devote up to 3 percent of Taiwan's GDP to research and development.

In addition, the Cabinet hopes the project will help develop at least 15 products or technologies that will rank among the world's best, double the current number of foreign tourists from 1 million to between 2 million and 5 million and increase the household use of broadband Internet services to 6 million homes.

To ensure the full implementation of the project, Vice Premier Lin Hsin-yi (林信義) will supervise the broader project, while five ministers without portfolio will oversee implementation of the 10 major tasks.

Hu Sheng-cheng (胡勝正) will deal with the research and development plan, the high value-added industry plan and the operations center plan.

Chen Chi-nan (陳其南) will oversee the talent cultivation plan, the creative industry development plan and the community construction plan.

Lin Sheng-feng (林盛豐) will take charge of plans to increase the number of tourists and the water and green construction plans.

Tsai Ching-yen (蔡清彥) is to supervise the implementation of plans to digitize Taiwan and Kuo Yao-chi (郭瑤琪), head of the Cabinet's Public Construction Commission, will oversee the nationwide mass transportation network plan.

Criticizing the six-year project as "nothing new," Yin said it is nothing but a "larger-scale version of the NT$810 billion public-construction project."

The project was introduced by former premier Chang Chun-hsiung (張俊雄) and emphasized the expansion of domestic demand as a solution to stimulating Taiwan's sluggish economy.