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American Chamber of Commerce touts vision for Taiwan

The American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei (AmCham) has published a special report on Taiwan's future titled Vision 2020 to communicate its recommendations to the Democratic Progressive Party and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidates.

AmCham said in a news release on Friday that Taiwan has the potential to enjoy immense business opportunities over the coming decade or more, especially in the high-tech and financial services sectors.

Nevertheless, it said that achieving such success would depend on numerous factors, particularly how well Taiwan overcomes its reluctance to fully tap into the tremendous economic growth taking place in China.

STRATEGIES

"It will also be necessary to boost competitiveness through such steps as revamping tax policies, restructuring the financial system, carrying out educational reform, creating a more transparent, consistent and even-handed regulatory regime, and liberalizing rules on work permits for foreign and mainland Chinese professionals," the release said.

Even more fundamentally, it said, Taiwan will need to maintain stable cross-Strait relations, adopt a more outward-looking and internationalist mindset, strengthen its democratic institutions and build a more collaborative domestic political environment.

These were the major conclusions in the report, a special issue of Taiwan Business TOPICS published last week, the release said.

TOPICS is a monthly magazine published by AmCham.

AUTHORS

The AmCham news release said that Vision 2020 contains 14 articles by prominent Taiwanese and international commentators, attempting to look beyond short-term issues to identify what Taiwan should wish to be like in the year 2020 and what will be required to attain this.

In an accompanying editorial, AmCham Taipei said that the necessary progress can only be attained through vigorous, clear-minded and enlightened leadership.

"It is therefore particularly timely that Vision 2020 is being published in the midst of the campaign for the presidential election of next March," the editorial said.

DEFINING

The editorial recommends that the presidential and vice presidential nominees and their aides regard the special section as a reference as they put together the policy objectives that will define their candidacies.

"After the election, the winning team might well give these papers a rereading as a reminder of what needs to be tackled during their term in office to help set the stage for a politically stable, economically flourishing and socially just Taiwan in 2020," it said.
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