President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) tried to reassure foreign investors yesterday that the March 20 referendum was the basis for stability and continued economic growth.
Speaking to members of the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) at the annual Hsieh Nien Fan dinner in Taipei, Chen said, "I have no doubt that, after the March 20 referendum and my re-election, the two sides [of the Taiwan Strait] will work actively and pragmatically to pursue such issues as the establishment of a framework for cross-strait interaction and stability, the protection of investment and the opening of trade and transport."
At yesterday's dinner, the de facto US ambassador, American Institute in Taiwan Director Douglas Paal, did not mention the referendum in his speech, and when questioned by reporters, AmCham president Andrea Wu (吳王小珍) said the chamber did not comment on political issues.
Paal concentrated instead on Taiwan's record on intellectual property rights (IPR), acknowledging recent improvements in the government's cracking down on infringements, but calling for sustained efforts in the fight against piracy.
"Taiwan has made some good progress in the past year -- passing the amendments to the Copyright Law and cracking down on producers of pirated optical disks [CDs, VCDs and DVDs]," Paal said.
"While the situation in Taiwan is far from where it can be, we recognize there have been some real improvements from where it was. We look forward to continued and sustained enforcement and efforts by the Taiwan government to improve their ability to protect intellectual property over the next year," he said.
The Chen administration has been trying hard to shake off Taiwan's reputation for lax IPR protection as the government tries to move from a manufacturing-based economy to a more high-technology design and services oriented one.
For the past three years, Taiwan has been placed on the US government's Special 301 Priority Watch List of serious IPR violators due to the high number of pirated optical disk seizures in the US that originate from Taiwan. The list is up for review in April.
Chen highlighted a report by the Business Software Alliance published last June that said the rate of pirated software here fell from 53 percent of all disks sold in 2001 to 43 percent in 2002, the highest drop of all developed nations. The global average is 39 percent, alliance figures show.
Chen also pointed to improvements in the economy, citing growth of 5.17 percent in the last three months of last year, adding that with new government construction projects, he hoped economic growth would top 5.5 percent this year. Most analysts have predicted growth of around 5 percent in Taiwan this year.
However, Chen's comments may not be enough to satisfy foreign businesses who lament the lack of direct transportation links between Taiwan and China, protectionist practices that exclude overseas companies from large-scale infrastructure projects here, and the high level of non-performing loans in domestic banks.
Chen pledged last night to improve these areas in line with the chamber's concerns.
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