Major local business groups yesterday urged the newly elected Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to help turn around the nation's sluggish economy by pushing for better trade ties with China.
"With the KMT having had more experience dealing with China, we expect and believe that Ma will be more than capable of forging better cross-strait ties with China, which will further boost the local economy," said Arthur Chiao (焦佑鈞), chairman of the Taiwan Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers' Association (台灣電子電機公會).
Chiao, who is also chairman of Winbond Electronics Inc (華邦電子), one of the nation's top manufacturers of memory chips, said that the association expected Ma's administration to ensure future political stability after the general public cast their votes to give him the mandate of a unified government.
A unified government should be able to quickly eradicate the deadlock between the legislature and the Executive Yuan, which means that the KMT would have no excuse but to do a better job than its predecessor administration, said Roscher Lin (林秉彬), chairman of the National Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (中小企業協會).
INVESTMENT
However, Lin said, as soon as he has been sworn in as president in May, Ma should shift his focus from the election campaign back to economic issues "in full strength," ensuring a viable investment environment for local businesses.
He said he expected Ma to realize his campaign promises of using "633 economic policies" to lift the nation's economic growth to 6 percent with a GDP per capita of US$30,000 while cutting the unemployment rate to below 3 percent.
"The biggest challenge for Ma now is to deliver on his promises," said Guy Wittich, chief executive officer of the European Chamber of Commerce in Taipei.
Wittich said that the foreign business community had great expectations for Ma to establish cross-strait business normalization as well as the immediate implementation of direct links between Taiwan and China.
The lack of direct business and transportation links have kept many European businesses away from Taiwan, he said.
Wittich also urged the new administration to carefully review the nation's tax incentives.
If the government took "all the tax incentives away, [foreign investors] will go some places else," where taxation is more competitive, he said.
Lin said he hoped that, after yesterday's victory, the KMT-led legislature will be able to take prompt action to pass budget bills to boost domestic demand while beefing up the government's spending on public infrastructure.
General Chamber of Commerce (全國商業總會) chairman Chang Ping-chao (張平沼) agreed, saying the chamber hoped that Ma would prioritize the local economy and improve cross-strait relations.
"[The turnout showed that] better local economic performance and cross-strait ties are the two major issues about which people care the most," Chang said.
TOLERANCE
While congratulating the KMT on its return to power, Chang urged Ma to remain humble and tolerant toward the Democratic Progressive Party, whose 5.4 million supporters may experience a great sense of loss after yesterday's defeat.
Chinese National Federation of Industries (全國工業總會) chairman Chen Wu-hsiung (陳武雄) also said that Ma should avoid the political gridlock of the past eight years.
To strengthen the central government's competitiveness, Lin said, the KMT government should promptly pass bills to facilitate the government's economic streamlining plan.
The Chinese National Association of Industry and Commerce (工商協進會) yesterday issued a six-point statement in which it urged Ma to create a business-friendly environment with forward-looking economic policies.
The association said the new government should strive to accelerate the deregulation of cross-strait investment restrictions while inking multilateral economic pacts with other countries and beefing up the nation's economic competitiveness by cutting red tape.
The association also called for the nation's two major political parties to seek conciliatory cooperation and avoid unnecessary confrontation.
The American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei would not comment on yesterday's election, but is scheduled to issue a statement today.
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