Despite unresolved controversies, lawmakers on the legislature’s Transportation Committee yesterday passed the first reading of a large portion of a bill aimed at turning the Taoyuan International Airport and surrounding area into an Airport Special Zone.
Eight of the bill’s 63 articles were put on hold and will be deliberated on again on Friday. Most of these relate to the tax benefits given to corporations.
The bill would establish “Tao-yuan Airport City” — a special zone covering the airport and the surrounding area. The proposed zone would be managed by an independent administration run by a board of directors. The Executive Yuan would supervise the operation of the board of directors.
The bill would authorize the board to develop and plan for the Airport Special Zone and manage the airport facilities, which are now under the jurisdiction of the Civil Aeronautics Administration.
Customs officials, airport police and other government workers would also be placed under the zone’s administration.
The board would be able to invest in transportation and other industries.
Corporations in the special zone would be eligible for several tax benefits. Business personnel from China and other countries could get visas after they arrive at the special zone.
The bill suggests that the government provide subsidies to the zone for new infrastructure. Private land in the zone could not be leased or sold without the consent of the zone administration.
The bill was introduced by seven Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislators who represent districts in Taoyuan County: Chen Ken-te (陳根德), Cheng Chin-ling (鄭金玲), Chu Fong-chi (朱鳳芝), Sun Ta-chien (孫大千), Yang Li-hung (楊麗環), John Wu (吳志揚) and Liao Cheng-ching (廖正井).
Liao said the proposed zone would cover an area of 6,000 hectares, almost six times the size of the present airport and facilities.
Before the committee reviewed the bill, KMT Legislator Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順) from Kaohsiung City and independent Legislator Yen Ching-piao (顏清標), who is from Taichung, voiced their opposition to the proposal. They said if the Taoyuan airport became a special administrative zone, the same should be done for Kaohsiung International Airport and Chingchuankang Airport in Taichung.
Ministry of Transportation and Communications officials and Taoyuan County Commissioner Chu Li-lun (朱立倫) attended yesterday’s committee meeting. Chu Li-lun said the bill would increase the nation’s competitiveness and the project would be completely supervised by the Executive Yuan.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Yeh Yi-jin (葉宜津) was the only DPP lawmaker to challenge the bill. She said the bill should specify the range of the special zone and the type of investment allowed in the zone.
“Otherwise, casinos or other irrelevant industries will want to come in as well,” she said.
Vice Minister of Transportation and Communications Oliver Yu (游芳來) said turning the Taoyuan airport into a special zone would cost the civil aviation operational fund NT$5 billion (US$165 million).
Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics officials said that government assets controlled by the proposed special zone would be equal to NT$87.1 billion. They said that the zone should be able to generate revenues and be self-sufficient.
Since the bill specifies that the zone would be run by an independent administration, the Budget Act (預算法) might not apply, they said.
Additional reporting by staff writer
GEARING UP: An invasion would be difficult and would strain China’s forces, but it has conducted large-scale training supporting an invasion scenario, the report said China increased its military pressure on Taiwan last year and took other steps in preparation for a potential invasion, an annual report published by the US Department of Defense on Wednesday showed. “Throughout 2023, Beijing continued to erode longstanding norms in and around Taiwan by employing a range of pressure tactics against Taiwan,” the report said, which is titled “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China (PRC) 2024.” The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) “is preparing for a contingency to unify Taiwan with the PRC by force, if perceived as necessary by Beijing, while simultaneously deterring, delaying or denying
‘LAGGING BEHIND’: The NATO secretary-general called on democratic allies to be ‘clear-eyed’ about Beijing’s military buildup, urging them to boost military spending NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte mentioning China’s bullying of Taiwan and its ambition to reshape the global order has significance during a time when authoritarian states are continuously increasing their aggression, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) said yesterday. In a speech at the Carnegie Europe think tank in Brussels on Thursday, Rutte said Beijing is bullying Taiwan and would start to “nibble” at Taiwan if Russia benefits from a post-invasion peace deal with Ukraine. He called on democratic allies to boost defense investments and also urged NATO members to increase defense spending in the face of growing military threats from Russia
PEACEFUL RESOLUTION: A statement issued following a meeting between Australia and Britain reiterated support for Taiwan and opposition to change in the Taiwan Strait Canada should support the peaceful resolution of Taiwan’s destiny according to the will of Taiwanese, Canadian lawmakers said in a resolution marking the second anniversary of that nation’s Indo-Pacific strategy on Monday. The Canadian House of Commons committee on Canada-Chinese relations made the comment as part of 34 recommendations for the new edition of the strategy, adding that Ottawa should back Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations. Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy, first published in October 2022, emphasized that the region’s security, trade, human rights, democracy and environmental protection would play a crucial role in shaping Canada’s future. The strategy called for Canada to deepen
TECH CONFERENCE: Input from industry and academic experts can contribute to future policymaking across government agencies, President William Lai said Multifunctional service robots could be the next new area in which Taiwan could play a significant role, given its strengths in chip manufacturing and software design, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman and chief executive C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said yesterday. “In the past two months, our customers shared a lot of their future plans with me. Artificial intelligence [AI] and AI applications were the most talked about subjects in our conversation,” Wei said in a speech at the National Science and Technology Conference in Taipei. TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, counts Nvidia Corp, Advanced Micro Devices Inc, Apple Inc and
RSS