Tue, Feb 14, 2006 page11

• Diversification of markets essential to survive: CIER

  LOWERING RISKS The think tank's chief touted the importance of expanding investments to other parts of the world, such as India, to diversify investment risks

  • CNA
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  Local businesses reaching out to India will be able to diversify their investment risks, the chairman of a private think tank said yesterday.

  Vincent Siew (蕭萬長), a former premier who is now chairman of the Chung Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中經院), said the focus of investing in India is not to replace China as an investment destination but to diversify investment risk.

  Siew's remarks came amid signs of growing interest in investing in India, with the Ministry of Economic Affairs encouraging Taiwanese businesspeople to invest in India and Democratic Progressive Party Chairman Yu Shyi-kun being elected as the chairman of the board of directors of the Taiwan-India Cooperation Council last Saturday.

  Taiwanese businesses can invest in two fields, Siew said, noting that Taiwan excels in such traditional industries as textiles, plastics and chemicals and mechanical products.

  The second is information technology, especially as India is strong in software development while Taiwan is good at hardware manufacturing, making the two countries complementary, he observed.

  As for cross-strait trade, Siew said that judging from the continued expansion of China-bound investments in recent years, the government has not tried to deter Taiwanese businesses from investing in China and that on the contrary, it was actually riding the wave of investment there.

  Taiwanese businesses have to expand to other parts of the world for their own survival and development, and that hot markets such as China are major destinations, he said.

  "Cross-strait economic integration is inevitable," he said, only now the pace is quicker and the scale grander.

  Faced with the emergence of China, the government should ride the tide and lead local businesses, he said, adding that the more important task should be to provide more transparent information on China in order to help Taiwanese businesses in decision-making.

  Meanwhile, Siew announced that five major think tanks in Taiwan are making an unprecedented joint effort to find ways of creating another economic miracle by 2020.

  Siew said CIER is working with the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (台經院), Taiwan Thinktank (台灣智庫), Taiwan Research Institute (台綜院) and the Institute of Economics of Academia Sinica on a multidisciplinary project called "A Study on Creating a New Economic Boom for Taiwan."

  Taiwan's economy has been in transition for more than 10 years, with almost all manufacturers that should have moved out of the country having moved out, although some of them have started to move back, Siew said.

  He suggested that the government create a good environment for these returning businesses, as well as those that have stayed in Taiwan, and to make good use of resources to create a new path for Taiwan's economic development.

  Siew said the Council for Economic Planning and Development has agreed to sponsor a joint research project involving the five economic think tanks.

  The final report will come up with policy proposals for international cooperation, industrial transition, business management and other issues for the coming 15 years, according to Siew.
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