President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday stressed the government’s determination to join regional trade blocs and said that increasing economic cooperation with major trade partners would reduce the nation’s economic dependence on China.
“China is our biggest trade partner, but we cannot put all our eggs in one basket... International competition is very cruel and it is difficult to catch up once you are marginalized. We must take part in regional economic integration to remain competitive,” he said while presiding over a meeting of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) Central Standing Committee.
The committee yesterday invited Council for Economic Planning and Development Minister Kuan Chung-ming (管中閔) to present a report on free economic zones, which are aimed at loosening regulations and opening local markets to foreign investors, including Chinese companies.
The council has set up free-trade pilot zones in several areas, including Keelung Port, Taipei Port in New Taipei City (新北市), the Taoyuan Aerotropolis in Taoyuan County, Kaohsiung Port and the Pingtung Agricultural Biotechnology Park. It has also lifted regulations covering labor recruitment, raw material imports, exports and capital flows to attract more investment.
The council estimated that the revised pilot zone plan would help boost private investment by NT$21 billion (US$709 million) and GDP by NT$30 billion this year, as well as create 13,000 jobs.
Kuan said Taiwan’s pilot zones are more liberalized than the free-trade area in Shanghai, but that the government will consider seeking cooperation with the Shanghai zone to promote free trade.
He dismissed concerns about the zones increasing the flow of Chinese workers to Taiwan, saying that the council would not relax regulations on the recruitment of blue-collar workers and the zones would not be open to Chinese workers.
Taiwan is stepping up plans to create self-sufficient supply chains for combat drones and increase foreign orders from the US to counter China’s numerical superiority, a defense official said on Saturday. Commenting on condition of anonymity, the official said the nation’s armed forces are in agreement with US Admiral Samuel Paparo’s assessment that Taiwan’s military must be prepared to turn the nation’s waters into a “hellscape” for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA). Paparo, the commander of the US Indo-Pacific Command, reiterated the concept during a Congressional hearing in Washington on Wednesday. He first coined the term in a security conference last
A magnitude 4.3 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 8:31am today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was located in Hualien County, about 70.3 kilometers south southwest of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 23.2km, according to the administration. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County, where it measured 3 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 2 in Hualien and Nantou counties, the CWA said.
The Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) yesterday announced a fundraising campaign to support survivors of the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck Myanmar on March 28, with two prayer events scheduled in Taipei and Taichung later this week. “While initial rescue operations have concluded [in Myanmar], many survivors are now facing increasingly difficult living conditions,” OCAC Minister Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) told a news conference in Taipei. The fundraising campaign, which runs through May 31, is focused on supporting the reconstruction of damaged overseas compatriot schools, assisting students from Myanmar in Taiwan, and providing essential items, such as drinking water, food and medical supplies,
New Party Deputy Secretary-General You Chih-pin (游智彬) this morning went to the National Immigration Agency (NIA) to “turn himself in” after being notified that he had failed to provide proof of having renounced his Chinese household registration. He was one of more than 10,000 naturalized Taiwanese citizens from China who were informed by the NIA that their Taiwanese citizenship might be revoked if they fail to provide the proof in three months, people familiar with the matter said. You said he has proof that he had renounced his Chinese household registration and demanded the NIA provide proof that he still had Chinese
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