Taiwan is underperforming as a destination for foreign investment, lagging behind traditional and emerging competitors in the region chiefly due to difficult access, the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Taipei said yesterday.
The trade group made the statement and a string of policy recommendations at a press conference to announce its annual white paper titled “Taiwan at a Crossroads.”
AmCham said the coming year will be crucial in determining Taiwan’s economic future and warned that the nation risks losing out to its regional competitors if economic reform and liberalization are not enacted swiftly.
Approved foreign direct investment in Taiwan was US$5.56 billion last year, higher than the US$3.81 billion in 2010 and US$4.96 billion in 2011, but much lower than that of Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, Hong Kong and Singapore, AmCham chairman Alan Eusden said.
South Korea, with which Taiwan is most often compared, drew US$16.3 billion in foreign direct investment last year, Eusden said.
“The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) should thoroughly re-evaluate the foreign investment application approval process,” Eusden said, adding that government agencies should publish clear and comprehensive criteria for assessing investment proposals with specific timetables for regulatory decisions.
Taiwan scared away US$20 billion of foreign investment in June 2011 when it rejected private equity fund Orion Investment Co’s (遨睿投資) buyout of Yageo Corp (國巨), Taiwan’s biggest maker of passive components used in electronics, said William Bryson, head of AmCham’s private equity committee.
The Investment Commission withheld approval due to concerns over the financial soundness and transparency of the deal, ending hopes of 10 to 11 other investment deals valued at US$2 million each, Bryson said.
Attractiveness and ease of investment sit atop the list of concerns of prospective investors and the latter appears the biggest obstacle, Bryson said.
“Although Taiwan scores well on international competitiveness surveys, those rankings do not translate into high levels of inbound investment,” he said.
Taiwan embarrassingly ranks second to last among 17 Asian countries in attracting private equity fund investment, behind Sri Lanka and ahead only of Pakistan, AmCham’s white paper says.
AmCham urged President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), now well into his second term, to make a greater effort to revitalize the economy as time is running out to establish his legacy, the paper says.
“Actions taken in the next 12 months before the ‘lame duck’ status begins to hamper progress will be decisive in shaping the Ma administration’s future place in history,” it says.
Eusden pressed Ma to mobilize a national campaign, with trade liberalization and joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership as overriding objectives, adding that only urgent action can propel Taiwan’s economy out of the doldrums.
Taiwan’s wages have stagnated, consumer confidence is weak and young people increasingly go to China to find better, higher-paying jobs, the AmCham report says.
The trade group does not have an opinion on the planned nuclear referendum, but suggests policymakers make sure there is sufficient energy to meet the demands of all sectors of the economy.
AT RISK: The council reiterated that people should seriously consider the necessity of visiting China, after Beijing passed 22 guidelines to punish ‘die-hard’ separatists The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has since Jan. 1 last year received 65 petitions regarding Taiwanese who were interrogated or detained in China, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. Fifty-two either went missing or had their personal freedoms restricted, with some put in criminal detention, while 13 were interrogated and temporarily detained, he said in a radio interview. On June 21 last year, China announced 22 guidelines to punish “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists,” allowing Chinese courts to try people in absentia. The guidelines are uncivilized and inhumane, allowing Beijing to seize assets and issue the death penalty, with no regard for potential
STILL COMMITTED: The US opposes any forced change to the ‘status quo’ in the Strait, but also does not seek conflict, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said US President Donald Trump’s administration released US$5.3 billion in previously frozen foreign aid, including US$870 million in security exemptions for programs in Taiwan, a list of exemptions reviewed by Reuters showed. Trump ordered a 90-day pause on foreign aid shortly after taking office on Jan. 20, halting funding for everything from programs that fight starvation and deadly diseases to providing shelters for millions of displaced people across the globe. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has said that all foreign assistance must align with Trump’s “America First” priorities, issued waivers late last month on military aid to Israel and Egypt, the
‘UNITED FRONT’ FRONTS: Barring contact with Huaqiao and Jinan universities is needed to stop China targeting Taiwanese students, the education minister said Taiwan has blacklisted two Chinese universities from conducting academic exchange programs in the nation after reports that the institutes are arms of Beijing’s United Front Work Department, Minister of Education Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) said in an exclusive interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper) published yesterday. China’s Huaqiao University in Xiamen and Quanzhou, as well as Jinan University in Guangzhou, which have 600 and 1,500 Taiwanese on their rolls respectively, are under direct control of the Chinese government’s political warfare branch, Cheng said, citing reports by national security officials. A comprehensive ban on Taiwanese institutions collaborating or
France’s nuclear-powered aircraft carrier and accompanying warships were in the Philippines yesterday after holding combat drills with Philippine forces in the disputed South China Sea in a show of firepower that would likely antagonize China. The Charles de Gaulle on Friday docked at Subic Bay, a former US naval base northwest of Manila, for a break after more than two months of deployment in the Indo-Pacific region. The French carrier engaged with security allies for contingency readiness and to promote regional security, including with Philippine forces, navy ships and fighter jets. They held anti-submarine warfare drills and aerial combat training on Friday in
RSS