American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Director Stephen Young yesterday urged Premier Su Tseng-chang (
Young called on Su to quickly implement the conclusions reached during last month's Conference on Sustaining Taiwan's Economic Development. He also urged the government to relax the restrictions on China-bound investment, expand cross-strait charter flights into regular commercial flights and welcome Chinese tourists to Taiwan.
Young made the remarks in a speech to the 30th plenary meeting of the ROC-USA Business Council that was held at China Trust's headquarters.
Young praised last month's economic conference, as well as Su's placing importance on how to facilitate common Taiwan-US business interests.
But he took on the issue on the benefits and risks to Taiwan's economy of further cross-strait opening.
"It is important for Taiwan to further open its economy to China," he said. "This is a matter of urgent interest to US and Taiwan busi-nesses alike. Taiwan businesses want to be able to pursue investment and trade opportunities in the People's Republic of China [PRC] to expand their markets and take advantage of economies of scale. US businesses are eager to integrate their Greater China operations into one seamless market."
"I hope that the government will act soon to implement the range of recommendations that emerged from the conference," he said.
For example, Young said, easing restrictions on the flow of goods, money and people across the Strait is critical for Taiwan to retain its place in the regional economy.
"An important step will be the expansion of charter flights as an interim step toward regular commercial flights and restrictions on investment must also be relaxed, and PRC business travelers and tourists should be welcomed to come to Taiwan in greater numbers, he said.
Young added that Taiwan must ensure that it can provide for its own defense. The US is looking to Taiwan to embrace a strategy that promotes stability in the region, he said.
"Addressing immediate needs and future capabilities in a balanced way will enable Taipei to deal with Beijing from a position of strength and self-confidence. This will in fact facilitate cross-strait economic opening," he said.
AIT has posted the full text of Young's speech on its Web site.
FAST TRACK? Chinese spouses must renounce their Chinese citizenship and pledge allegiance to Taiwan to gain citizenship, some demonstrators said Opponents and supporters of a bill that would allow Chinese spouses to obtain Taiwanese citizenship in four years instead of six staged protests near the Legislative Yuan in Taipei yesterday morning. Those who oppose the bill proposed by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) demanded that Chinese spouses be granted citizenship only after renouncing their Chinese citizenship, passing a citizenship test and pledging allegiance to Taiwan. The demonstrators, who were protesting at a side entrance to the Legislative Yuan on Jinan Road, were mostly members of the Taiwan Association of University Professors and other organizations advocating Taiwanese independence. Supporters of the bill, led
SILENT MAJORITY: Only 1 percent of Chinese rejected all options but war to annex Taiwan, while one-third viewed war as unacceptable, a university study showed Many Chinese are more concerned with developments inside their country than with seeking unification with Taiwan, al-Jazeera reported on Friday. Although China claims Taiwan as its own territory and has vowed to annex it, by force if necessary, 23-year-old Chinese Shao Hongtian was quoted by al-Jazeera as saying that “hostilities are not the way to bring China and Taiwan together.” “I want unification to happen peacefully,” Shao said. Al-Jazeera said it changed Shao’s name to respect his wish for anonymity. If peaceful unification is not possible, Shao said he would prefer “things to remain as they are,” adding that many of his friends feel
Taiwan has “absolute air superiority” over China in its own airspace, Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) told a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee on Monday, amid concern over whether Taipei could defend itself against a military incursion by Beijing. Po made the remarks in response to a question from Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Chiu Chih-wei (邱志偉) on whether Taiwan would have partial or complete air superiority if Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) warplanes were to enter Taiwan’s airspace. Po, a retired pilot, said that the Taiwanese military has “absolute air superiority” over PLA
A shipment of basil pesto imported by Costco Wholesale Taiwan from the US in the middle of last month was intercepted at the border after testing positive for excessive pesticide residue, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said yesterday. Samples taken from a shipment of the Kirkland Signature brand of basil pesto imported by Costco contained 0.1 milligrams per kilogram of ethylene oxide, exceeding the non-detectable limit. Ethylene oxide is a carcinogenic substance that can be used as a pesticide. The 674kg shipment of basil pesto would either be destroyed or returned to its country of origin, as is the procedure for all