Taiwan’s economy may begin growing again in the fourth quarter on the back of increasingly positive signs, Minister of the Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD) Chen Tain-jy (陳添枝) told legislators yesterday.
This could mean Taiwan would lead the world in recovering from the severest economic recession in decades, Chen said.
“The recent rally in the local stock market, which is a leading indicator, indicates Taiwan’s economy has hit the bottom and is ready to climb out of the slump,” Chen said.
Minister of Economic Affairs Yiin Chii-ming (尹啟銘) said the falling numbers of employees on unpaid leave indicated that local companies were receiving more orders and hiring employees amid recovering demand.
Yiin also responded to comments by China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Director Wang Yi (王毅) on Sunday on building a healthy and mutually beneficial economic platform with Taiwan as quickly as possible.
Yiin said the comments sounded very similar to the ministry’s concept of an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA), which it was pursuing with caution.
Yiin said he and his team would be ready for formal ECFA talks with China in about a month’s time after all the research and evaluation had been conducted. However, since there has been no direct communication between the two sides, Yiin said be was not sure whether China was progressing at the same pace with Taiwan’s assessment of the trade talks.
“Hence there is still some time from finishing up our separate investigations and the actual negotiation,” Yiin said.
The first ECFA discussion will likely include topics such as which industries will not have to pay customs taxes.
However, Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Pan Meng-an (潘孟安) was not convinced by Yiin’s comments.
“The nation’s consumer price index, our export and import figures and industrial output are all in dark territory, why was there even a stock rally to begin with?” he asked.
Pan suggested there was market manipulation by local, foreign and Chinese financial institutions.
Pan also warned that local corporations are running ahead of the government in terms of doing business with China.
More specifically, he mentioned Far EasTone Telecommunications Co’s (遠傳電信) announcement of plans to sell a stake to China’s leading telecoms operator, China Mobile Ltd (中國移動) last week.
In response, Yiin said, “no matter the company, if it infringes the law, the government will prosecute accordingly.”
So far, the telecommunications industry is on the ministry’s list of industries prohibited from receiving Chinese investment.
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