Although President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) has called on Taiwanese businesspeople investing in China to cooperate with the government's cross-strait policies, few of these businesspeople favor his appeal.
The government's China investment policy should be clear and should contain concrete measures that are feasible for Taiwanese companies to follow, business leaders urged yesterday.
"We will go wherever the money is. If Taiwan's economy was doing so well, we wouldn't leave home to go to China," Hsieh Kun-tsung (謝坤宗), chairman of the Beijing-based Taiwan Business Association, said during yesterday's gathering.
Chen's recent announcement to shift cross-strait economic policy from "active opening, effective management" to "active management, effective opening" and his proposal to abolish the National Unification Council and National Unification Guidelines were the two issues of most concern to businesspeople investing in China, known as taishang.
"I don't agree with the president that the policy shift is not for `tightening' cross-strait exchanges but for maintaining Taiwan's advantage," said Preston Chen (陳武雄), the vice chairman of the Chinese National Federation of Industries.
"The new policy of `active management, effective opening' will give the government too much power to manipulate taishang investment strategies and leave too little regulations for us to follow," he said.
"I did not really pay attention to what the president said," Hsieh replied when asked by reporters to comment on President Chen's speech.
"I have been disappointed by the government, as it always does or says what it shouldn't and doesn't do what we want," he said.
Hsieh said that he didn't understand why the president planned to abolish the council and guidelines, something which would worsen the cross-strait relations.
He's also stumped about why the government has been hesitant about opening Taiwan to Chinese tourists, cross-strait cargo charter flights and direct transportation.
The president of the Taiwanese Businessmen Association in Zhangzhou, Ho Hsi-hao (何希灝), said that the president's announcements about changing the cross-strait economic policies and scrapping National Unification Council were intended to mask the government's incompetence and the scandals that have engulfed it.
"Now I hardly place any hope in what the president has said," Ho said. "What makes me feel more discouraged are the government officials. They should be able to tell the president what the taishang need and what's bad for improving cross-strait relations, but evidently many government officials haven't been able to do this."
"For example, the National Unification Council and unification guidelines are important for stabilizing cross-strait relations. Given that unification is a remote goal, the government doesn't need to worry about the council and guidelines. Scrapping them without cause would only provoke cross-strait tensions," Ho said.
As for the president's call for taishang to return to invest in Taiwan, Yeh Hui-te (
"Direct transportation [links] would be helpful for the taishang, who could have their headquarters or research & development centers stay in Taiwan and move only their production lines to China. Without that, we would rather move all investments to China," he said.
According to statistics from the Ministry of Economic Affairs, Taiwanese investment in China has exceeded US$50 billion, while China's official figures say it is US$100 billion.
Even if the figures are only US$50 billion, accounting for about 70 percent of Taiwan's total outward investment, the investment returns to Taiwan are less than 10 percent.
President Chen restated his cross-strait plans during a Lunar New Year Gathering held by the Straits Exchange Foundation.
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