The government's "no haste, be patient" (戒急用忍) policy was strongly criticized by several partcipants at the National Economic Conference in Taipei yesterday. They said that the administration should ease the restrictions as soon as possible.
The "no haste, be patient" policy -- created by former president Lee Teng-hui's (李登輝) adminstration in 1996 -- aims to control the flow of Taiwan's investments in China.
Wang Zuo-rong (
Wang said the government should be assisting rather than hampering the businesss sector.
"The government should not intervene in the investments of private corporations. If the administration continues to restrict overseas investments, it will devastate the economy ... To restrict overseas investments will suffocate the domestic economy. Taiwan has to merge its economy with China. I hope that the administration will completely abandon its present policy go for direct links [with China]," Wang said.
An industry magnate agreed with Wang, saying Taiwan has to continue to think globally.
"[While] Taiwan is still five years ahead of China ... don't underestimate the potential of China," said Morris Chang (張忠謀), chairman of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台灣積體電路公司).
"Taiwan's companies have to be internationalized, and the first step is go to China. Taiwan's economy will merge with China's sooner or later ... and if it doesen't, China's economy will rise fast and defeat Taiwan in international markets," Chang said.
A leading legislator jumped on the bandwagon, saying that the protectionist policy amounted to little more than economic babysitting.
"The administration should stop trying to be a nanny for private enterprises," New Party legislator Lai Shyh-bau (
One academic said the administration has double standards on overseas investment. For example, when United Microelectronics Co (
"In a free economy where capital flows freely, how can the administration try to control the flow of funds?" said Lin Zu-cha (
"According to the Investment Review Committee (
"The administration has been more strict on companies who want to invest in China. A more positive way is to assist Taiwan companies to raise money is by getting their shares listed in a third country," Lin said.
Easing restrictions on cross-strait investments has to be done sooner rather than later if Taiwan companies are going to remain competitive, Lin said.
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