Vice Premier Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday urged the public to have confidence in the nation's economy, saying that she is confident of its continued stable growth over the next two to three years.
Tsai made the remarks at a meeting hosted by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Hsieh Ming-yuan (謝明源) and the Taichung Association of Industry and Commerce in Taichung.
More than 300 industrial and business leaders attended the meeting.
PHOTO: CHANG CHING-YA, TAIPEI TIMES
Tsai noted that some in Taiwan are pessimistic about the nation's economic development, even to the extent of criticizing the government as being incompetent.
However, the fact is that Taiwan ranks near the top of the list in every aspect of economic competitiveness in major international assessments, she said.
"The public need not feel uneasy about the nation's economic development," she said, adding that "as long as Taiwan doesn't make any missteps, it can maintain stable growth over the next two to three years."
She also said that as Taiwan moves toward becoming a high-tech knowledge-based economy, it is inevitable that the widening gap between the rich and the poor will become more serious.
"The government will have to embark on long-term structural reform iin order to close the gap," she continued.
Tsai, a former head of the Mainland Affairs Council, also touched briefly on cross-strait issues.
On economic issues, Tsai said that because of the globalization trend, the positive and negative effects of a China that is rising economically will impact on Taiwan's economic development.
Taiwanese businesspeople investing in China will get high yields if they are successful, but they shouldn't ignore the high risks inherent in the economic environment in China, she said.
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