Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday said that, if elected, he would establish a "golden triangle" in Taiwan, boosting employment rates by revitalizing the financial, tourism and healthcare industries.
Pushing for financial liberalization, opening up to Chinese tourists and developing medical tourism will raise economic growth to 6 percent, raise average personal income to US$20,000 by 2011 and decrease unemployment to 3 percent, Ma said.
"The Democratic Progressive Party [DPP] should be blamed for the declining economy. The KMT will relax regulations on finance and investment and will not govern the country on ideology alone," Ma said at a Taiwan investment forum sponsored by Citigroup Global Markets at the Far Eastern Plaza Hotel in Taipei.
Ma accused the government of placing unreasonable restrictions on foreign investment and vowed to liberalize the financial system with a goal of creating more than 30,000 jobs over four years and generating NT$1.3 trillion (US$40 billion) in annual GDP.
Opening the country to 10,000 Chinese tourists per day over four years would boost the local tourism industry by generating annual revenues of NT$200 billion and creating 100,000 jobs, Ma said.
Ma described government efforts to promote medical tourism as "too little, too late" and promised to give the healthcare industry a boost if elected.
The government pledged in March to give priority to medical tourism promotion as part of its efforts to expand tourist numbers and beef up the medical service sector.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has said it would allow foreigners to visit Taiwan for medical purposes for a maximum stay of six months.
Ma said Taiwan should not ignore the global medical tourism market, which is expected to generate annual profits of NT$2.6 billion by the end of this year and NT$4 billion by 2010.
With a goal of contributing NT$380 billion to annual GDP, the country should start an international publicity campaign highlighting its high-quality medical care and relatively inexpensive costs to attract foreign patients, Ma said.
Ma said he would push for the creation of a "golden triangle" to facilitate transportation by transforming Taiwan into a "bi-regional airline hub" serving the northeast and southeast Asian regions.
The bi-regional hub plan foresees linking Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport to Tokyo's Haneda Airport, Seoul's Gimpo Airport and Shanghai's Hongqiao Airport in the north, and to Hong Kong's Chek Lap Kok Airport, Singapore's Changi Airport and airports in the ASEAN nations in the south, Ma said.
"It would be great news for Taiwan if I and my running mate Vincent Siew (蕭萬長) win the presidential election next year," he said.
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