Former premier and Cross-Strait CEO Summit cochair Liu Chao-hsuan (劉兆玄) called for improvements to the operational environment in China to lure Taiwanese investors planning to relocate to other markets.
The summit held in Xiamen, in China’s Fujian Province, ended on Tuesday.
Liu said in a statement yesterday that many Taiwanese investors in China have in the past few years faced headwinds due to the Chinese government’s stringent COVID-19 lockdowns, power rationing, strict environmental protection rules and financial bottlenecks.
Photo courtesy of the Foundation of Chinese Culture for Sustainable Development via CNA
The difficulties increased production costs, hurt bottom lines, created problems for day-to-day operations, and impeded the movement of employees and goods, he said.
Their effects on production, logistics and supply chains has led to an increasing number of Taiwanese investors to consider leaving China for other countries, he added.
Liu said the operations of Taiwanese investors in China would stabilize only after the problems are resolved.
Taiwanese investors at the summit urged both sides of the Taiwan Strait to increase the number of direct cross-strait flights and destinations.
The Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) on Feb. 10, 2020, reduced the number of direct flights across the Strait, due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has said that the number of cross-strait flights has fallen more than 90 percent since then, with only 50 or so weekly services available to four destinations — Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and Xiamen — down from 60 previously.
KMT Legislator Jessica Chen (陳玉珍) earlier this month met with Chinese authorities in Xiamen to discuss the possibility of restarting travel under the “small three links.”
The links refer to direct postal, transportation and trade links between Taiwan and China.
Liu urged Chinese authorities to help Taiwanese investors gain a foothold in the country’s domestic market, particularly in the service industries, while providing assistance to young Taiwanese entrepreneurs.
He also called for cross-strait collaboration in digitalization, carbon reduction, smart manufacturing, next-generation wireless communication technologies, the industrial Internet of Things, electric vehicles and healthcare.
Meanwhile, Chinese news reports cited Liu as saying during the summit that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) has suspended plans to expand its wafer plant in Nanjing due to “non-economic factors.”
However, TSMC denied the reports, saying that the second phase of its investment in Nanjing for chip production on the mature 28-nanometer process has been proceeding as scheduled.
Production at the Nanjing fab started in the second half of this year, with output scheduled to reach 40,000 units a month in the middle of next year, the company said.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs in July last year approved TSMC’s plan to build a new fab in Nanjing, saying the chipmaker had also pledged to invest NT$600 billion to NT$650 billion (US$19.5 billion to US$21.2 billion) in Taiwan.
The TSMC board in April last year approved a capital expenditure plan for the Nanjing plant, allowing the chipmaker to invest US$2.89 billion to expand the production site.
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