An investment and business association made up of Taiwanese businesspeople operating in Xiamen, China, said yesterday that Kinmen is not suitable for development into an export processing zone, and that the outlying island should rather focus on becoming a tourist destination.
Wu Chin-chung (吳進忠), president of the association, said he reached the conclusion after leading a delegation over the past two days to assess the feasibility of setting up an such a zone in Kinmen.
Wu said that conditions for an export processing zone in Kinmen are not very good when its labor costs, harbors, import and export mechanisms, as well as water and electricity resources are taken into account. However, the island has a good chance of being developed into a fine tourist area.
He said that the cultural traits of Fujian Province that are to be found on the island, the relics of past battles during the days when it served as a major outpost opposite China and its natural ecology are all distinctive features of Kinmen.
What is more important is that the island has no pollution, which will make a good selling point in promoting tourism, he added.
He was especially keen on the business opportunities that could be offered by allowing Chinese citizens to visit Kinmen, saying that more than 10 million Chinese tour Xiamen every year and that if these tourists can be persuaded to extend their trips to Kinmen, this would be a boon for the island's tourism.
He said that Hong Kong was in the economic doldrums after its 1997 handover to China, but after the signing of closer economic partnership arrangements between Hong Kong and China last year, and the approval by Beijing authorities to allow its people to visit Hong Kong as tourists, the territory's economy has rebounded.
Wu said that the Taiwanese business association in Xiamen plans to set up a task force to collect funds and promote investment in tourism on Kinmen.
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