Thirteen years ago, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) government proposed the establishment of an Asia-Pacific Regional Operations Center (APROC). Two years later, then-minister of economic affairs Wang Chih-kang (王志剛) said that his ministry had spent billions of NT dollars and published more than 100 papers over a period of eight years in order to make the center a reality.
But in April that year, Michael Porter, a Harvard professor, was invited to Taiwan to hold a lecture on improving national competitiveness.
He said that the future of Taiwan's economy was uncertain and, using the APROC project as an example, added that many other countries or areas -- including Singapore and Hong Kong -- were doing more or less the same thing, with only a few differences, and that those countries might be even more advanced than Taiwan.
Porter also said that Taiwan's development of the APROC would result in Taiwanese dependence on the Chinese market, adding that Taiwan's biggest problem was a lack of long-term vision and that the project would become a mess.
Although the KMT's promise for the new century focused on a push for the APROC to move Taiwan's national competitiveness into the top-five of the International Institute for Management Development world competitiveness listing, the nation's ranking dropped to 18.
This was the reason why Vincent Siew (
Ironically, Siew, now the KMT vice presidential candidate, is once again relying on the APROC to define Taiwan as the global operations center for Taiwanese businesspeople and the Asia-Pacific operations center for overseas businesspeople to turn Taiwan into a part of a common Chinese market.
As Porter said, the APROC is a passive strategy controlled by others rather than an active strategy that we can control ourselves.
The APROC of yore and today's common Chinese market are but a kind of "colonial comprador economy" that plunders and exploits local resources for profit. This will only benefit compradors, or intermediaries, with special privileges and hurt most Taiwanese and the country's natural environment.
Consequently, as former Democratic Progressive Party legislator Lin Cho-shui (
The presidential election is crucial to the transformation of Taiwan's economy. Our votes will decide whether we will put an end to this kind of "colonial comprador economy" and open up a new path for an independent and free Taiwanese economy.
Bob Kuo is a professor in the Department of Information Management at National Sun Yat-sen University.
Translated by Eddy Chang
The gutting of Voice of America (VOA) and Radio Free Asia (RFA) by US President Donald Trump’s administration poses a serious threat to the global voice of freedom, particularly for those living under authoritarian regimes such as China. The US — hailed as the model of liberal democracy — has the moral responsibility to uphold the values it champions. In undermining these institutions, the US risks diminishing its “soft power,” a pivotal pillar of its global influence. VOA Tibetan and RFA Tibetan played an enormous role in promoting the strong image of the US in and outside Tibet. On VOA Tibetan,
Sung Chien-liang (宋建樑), the leader of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) efforts to recall Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Lee Kun-cheng (李坤城), caused a national outrage and drew diplomatic condemnation on Tuesday after he arrived at the New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office dressed in a Nazi uniform. Sung performed a Nazi salute and carried a copy of Adolf Hitler’s Mein Kampf as he arrived to be questioned over allegations of signature forgery in the recall petition. The KMT’s response to the incident has shown a striking lack of contrition and decency. Rather than apologizing and distancing itself from Sung’s actions,
US President Trump weighed into the state of America’s semiconductor manufacturing when he declared, “They [Taiwan] stole it from us. They took it from us, and I don’t blame them. I give them credit.” At a prior White House event President Trump hosted TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家), head of the world’s largest and most advanced chip manufacturer, to announce a commitment to invest US$100 billion in America. The president then shifted his previously critical rhetoric on Taiwan and put off tariffs on its chips. Now we learn that the Trump Administration is conducting a “trade investigation” on semiconductors which
By now, most of Taiwan has heard Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an’s (蔣萬安) threats to initiate a vote of no confidence against the Cabinet. His rationale is that the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)-led government’s investigation into alleged signature forgery in the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) recall campaign constitutes “political persecution.” I sincerely hope he goes through with it. The opposition currently holds a majority in the Legislative Yuan, so the initiation of a no-confidence motion and its passage should be entirely within reach. If Chiang truly believes that the government is overreaching, abusing its power and targeting political opponents — then
RSS