The Cabinet was censured in a report by the Control Yuan yesterday for its failure to effectively manage China-bound investment and to respond to the exodus of industry across the Taiwan Strait.
The Cabinet's negligence was said to have led to national economic recession and increasing unemployment.
The Control Yuan also criticized the government for its lack of effective measures to deal with companies which export their capital to China, do not repatriate their profits and leave nothing in Taiwan but debts.
"The Cabinet and its subordinate agencies can't shake off blame for this situation," said Lee Shen-yi (
Lee, along with his colleagues Chao Ron-yaw (
According to the report's findings, by the end of July this year 25,033 applications to invest in China, totalling US$22.1 billion, had been approved by the investment review committee under the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
This amounted to around 40 percent of Taiwan's total foreign investments.
In addition, according to figures from the Ministry of Finance, by the end of March this year, among 975 listed companies in Taiwan, 490 of them had invested in China, with an accumulated outflow of NT$197.7 billion.
Only NT$2.34 billion has been remitted back to Taiwan, and only 27 companies have made such remittances.
This means that only 1.18 percent of the total capital outflow has been repatriated.
"The rate of remittance is too low. And this could be one reason for the hollowing out of industry in Taiwan," said Lin.
Lin added that while regulations concerning investments are clear and punishments specified, prosecutions for breaking the regulations and investing illegally were seldom launched.
"The Cabinet apparently has not carried out its policies and has no effective measures to deal with the matter," Chao said.
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
SECURITY: The purpose for giving Hong Kong and Macau residents more lenient paths to permanent residency no longer applies due to China’s policies, a source said The government is considering removing an optional path to citizenship for residents from Hong Kong and Macau, and lengthening the terms for permanent residence eligibility, a source said yesterday. In a bid to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from infiltrating Taiwan through immigration from Hong Kong and Macau, the government could amend immigration laws for residents of the territories who currently receive preferential treatment, an official familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity said. The move was part of “national security-related legislative reform,” they added. Under the amendments, arrivals from the Chinese territories would have to reside in Taiwan for
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