Property tycoon Chao Teng-hsiung (趙藤雄), chairman of Farglory Group (遠雄集團), yesterday expressed disappointment at the government’s decision not to open the real-estate sector to Chinese capital at this point.
“I am puzzled and don’t know what the government’s afraid of,” he told a seminar yesterday.
Chao said Singapore, which has a total area of 699km², had opened its property sector to Chinese capital more than 20 years ago, and at one time guaranteed a 3 percent return to attract foreign investment. Yet Taiwan, he said, with a total territory of 36,000km², is still hesitating.
Unless the government allows Chinese investment, more capital will flow out of the country, which goes against the government’s goals — including promoting tourism and spurring consumption, Chao said.
The government is not creating the conditions to facilitate the nation’s transformation into a regional financial hub, he said.
Despite his disappointment over the delay in opening the realty sector to Chinese capital, Chao expressed interest in collaborating with Chinese investors to explore business opportunities in Taiwan and China.
Last Thursday, before the government’s decision not to open the real-estate sector yet, Chao said that Farglory hoped to team up with Country Garden Holdings Co (碧桂園) to form a joint-venture in Taiwan, with each company holding a 50 percent stake.
“We will not miss the opportunity to tap into Chinese markets,” he reiterated yesterday.
Once the government allows it, the joint-venture will proceed, looking at major residential and commercial property projects that may require construction on big plots of land in Taiwan or China, he said.
Farglory is reportedly working on the deal with Country Garden via its Singapore-based subsidiary, the Chinese-language Commercial Times reported.
Meanwhile, Christina Liu (劉憶如), a top adviser at Daiwa Institute of Research Co, said the government should take bolder steps to normalize capital inflow and turn Taiwan into an “investment haven.”
The global economic downturn is an opportunity for Taiwan to address its dependency on exports by putting more focus on domestic consumption and private investment, she said.
Taiwan has the greatest advantages in the world to attract Chinese investment, she said.
“The government should seize a rare opportunity to accelerate two-way trade [between Taiwan and China],” she said at the seminar yesterday.
Liu also praised the government’s stimulus measures to pump liquidity into the market, but warned of inflation, although many governments around the world are still fighting deflationary pressure.
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