Kenichi Ohmae, the famed Japanese business strategist, yesterday advised the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government to build Taiwan into a super Silicon Valley and a mecca for service sector businesses in East Asia in the country’s attempt to pursue greater economic prosperity.
Ohmae, who is in Taiwan to promote his new books, spelled out his views about Taiwan's economic endeavors during a meeting with President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) in the morning and a speech to an audience in the afternoon.
Ma received Ohmae at the Presidential Office where Ma told his guest his proposal 15 years ago to make Taiwan a regional operations center remains useful.
Ma said that Ohmae raised the idea with then-top economic adviser Vincent Siew (蕭萬長), who is now the nation’s vice president, when Ma worked as justice minister.
“The idea remains valuable and attractive to the incumbent administration, though it failed to be carried out for different reasons,” Ma said, pledging to put it back on track so that the country could take advantage of its strategic location in the region to lure multinational investment.
Ohmae has encouraged Taiwan to adopt a pro-engagement approach in dealing with China, saying it will emerge a beneficiary from the venture.
Former presidents Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) and Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) had shied away from aggressive cross-strait exchanges for fear they might increase Taiwan’s economic dependence on China and hurt the island’s sovereignty.
But the Ma administration has pinned its hopes of stimulating the economy on bettering ties with China.
The president pointed out that the international courier, Federal Express Corp, came to Taiwan a decade ago, attracted by its plan to be an Asia-Pacific Operations Center, but pulled out of Kaohsiung last July after its revenues dived by a third.
Ma invited Ohmae to make fresh suggestions to the government and the private sector at a time that the country is facing challenges.
Dubbed one of the five top management gurus in the world, Ohmae said Taiwan should export its successful experience in building science parks across the strait and beyond.
He noted that Taiwan can play the catalyst for innovation as well as research and development in East Asia, given the importance of its information technology industry on the global stage.
In addition, the country can benefit from training engineers and managers from China, Ohmae said, adding that the sovereignty feud antagonizing the two sides is outdated in a world marked by increasing globalization.
The strategist also advised Taiwan to embrace Chinese tourists, saying they helped revive the economies of Hong Kong and Macau and would benefit Taiwan more, as the country offers better food and richer cultural heritage.
Ohmae put the number of Chinese tourists visiting Taiwan at 20 million a year if the country was willing to open the door.
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