The government’s plan to remove the current investment caps on China-bound investment projects by Taiwanese firms is only aimed at bailing out a small number of companies and will damage the economy, the Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) said yesterday.
TSU Secretary-General Lin Chi-chia (林志嘉) said the plan to lift the caps would undermine the nation’s economic independence.
“If the barrier is removed by the government, at least NT$2 trillion [US$65.8 billion] in Taiwanese capital ... will flee to China,” Lin said.
“The TSU will lead the public to the streets if the administration of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) insists on adopting such a measure,” he said.
Citing statistics compiled by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Lin said that 52 Taiwan-based companies had exceeded the investment cap, while another 110 enterprises were near the limit.
Lin said most of these companies were debt-ridden as a result of unsuccessful investments in China.
At a separate setting yesterday, former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) said the government was locking the country away from the rest of the world by betting too much on China.
“The government has no global outlook and has eyes for China alone, ” Lu said.
The Taipei Department of Health yesterday said it has launched a probe into a restaurant at Far Eastern Sogo Xinyi A13 Department Store after a customer died of suspected food poisoning. A preliminary investigation on Sunday found missing employee health status reports and unsanitary kitchen utensils at Polam Kopitiam (寶林茶室) in the department store’s basement food court, the department said. No direct relationship between the food poisoning death and the restaurant was established, as no food from the day of the incident was available for testing and no other customers had reported health complaints, it said, adding that the investigation is ongoing. Later
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