The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday that the government had failed to attract adequate levels of Chinese investment to bolster the nation’s economy.
“The amount of Chinese investment in Taiwan has been very little,” DPP Spokeswoman Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) said yesterday. “It is disappointing to see that there is such a huge gap between the government’s promise to bolster Taiwan’s economy with Chinese injection and the outcome.”
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has been forging closer economic ties with China and working to redress the imbalance in the trade flow between the two sides.
CONTRAST
However, Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang (施顏祥) said at a separate setting yesterday that Chinese enterprises, including airliners and software companies, have only invested NT$1.2 billion (US$37.16 million) in Taiwan since the nation opened up for investment from China in July.
The amount contrasts with the more than US$100 billion that Taiwanese companies have invested in China since the late 1980s.
Bilateral trade — mostly Taiwanese exports — now exceeds US$110 billion annually.
China’s relatively small investment can be explained by the fact that Chinese companies are still unfamiliar with Taiwan after six months, Shih said.
He added that the ministry would make arrangements to help Chinese investors better adapt to Taiwan.
PRECONDITIONS
In other developments, Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) said yesterday that the government would maintain the three preconditions it has set for the signing of an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China.
These preconditions are that the trade agreement must be consistent with the country’s needs, that it must receive approval from the public and must be subject to the supervision of the Legislative Yuan, Wu said in an interview with China Television Co.
For many businesses in Taiwan, he said, it is urgent that an ECFA be signed by May or June.
NO BLIND EYE
At the same time, however, the government cannot turn a blind eye to the “20 percent to 30 percent” of Taiwanese who have doubts about the agreement, Wu said.
He said that the government opposes the idea of holding a referendum on an ECFA because if it were rejected at the polls, no other referendum on the matter could be held for another three years.
Also See: THE LIBERTY TIMES EDITORIAL: Don’t place hope in PRC investment
An increase in Taiwanese boats using China-made automatic identification systems (AIS) could confuse coast guards patrolling waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast and become a loophole in the national security system, sources familiar with the matter said yesterday. Taiwan ADIZ, a Facebook page created by enthusiasts who monitor Chinese military activities in airspace and waters off Taiwan’s southwest coast, on Saturday identified what seemed to be a Chinese cargo container ship near Penghu County. The Coast Guard Administration went to the location after receiving the tip and found that it was a Taiwanese yacht, which had a Chinese AIS installed. Similar instances had also
GOOD DIPLOMACY: The KMT has maintained close contact with representative offices in Taiwan and had extended an invitation to Russia as well, the KMT said The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) would “appropriately handle” the fallout from an invitation it had extended to Russia’s representative to Taipei to attend its international banquet last month, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) said yesterday. US and EU representatives in Taiwan boycotted the event, and only later agreed to attend after the KMT rescinded its invitation to the Russian representative. The KMT has maintained long-term close contact with all representative offices and embassies in Taiwan, and had extended the invitation as a practice of good diplomacy, Chu said. “Some EU countries have expressed their opinions of Russia, and the KMT respects that,” he
AMENDMENT: Contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau must be reported, and failure to comply could result in a prison sentence, the proposal stated The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) yesterday voted against a proposed bill by Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers that would require elected officials to seek approval before visiting China. DPP Legislator Puma Shen’s (沈伯洋) proposed amendments to the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例), stipulate that contact with certain individuals in China, Hong Kong and Macau should be reported, while failure to comply would be punishable by prison sentences of up to three years, alongside a fine of NT$10 million (US$309,041). Fifty-six voted with the TPP in opposition
VIGILANCE: The military is paying close attention to actions that might damage peace and stability in the region, the deputy minister of national defense said The People’s Republic of China (PRC) might consider initiating a hack on Taiwanese networks on May 20, the day of the inauguration ceremony of president-elect William Lai (賴清德), sources familiar with cross-strait issues said. While US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s statement of the US expectation “that all sides will conduct themselves with restraint and prudence in the period ahead” would prevent military actions by China, Beijing could still try to sabotage Taiwan’s inauguration ceremony, the source said. China might gain access to the video screens outside of the Presidential Office Building and display embarrassing messages from Beijing, such as congratulating Lai