June 1, 2006
The American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei (AmCham) issued the 2006 Taiwan White Paper on May 30. This document presents recommendations concerning both negative and positive aspects of Taiwan's economic policies. AmCham affirms: (1) most economic indicators are better than they were several years ago; (2) the government is displaying a more active attitude towards dealing with the issue of allowing direct cross-straits passenger and cargo flights; (3) motivated by the possibility of making a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the United States, the government is paying more attention to reform of the financial system, opening of government procurement to foreign bidders, protection of intellectual property rights, and rationalization of the pharmaceutical pricing system, and has begun to undertake some improvement measures.
With regard to the cross-straits issue, AmCham noted that heavy restrictions on the cross-straits flow of manpower, funds, and goods are detrimental to Taiwan's advantages of geographical proximity and linguistic/cultural affinity, counteract Taiwan's core competitiveness in global trade networks, and drive its top businesses offshore. AmCham is pleased to see that the Taiwan government has faced up to this issue and is taking some positive actions.
AmCham sincerely urges Taiwan to effect the following improvements: (1) Reduce government restrictions on business hiring decisions; (2) upgrade Taiwan's public health and healthcare system; (3) tighten intellectual property protection; (4) accelerate economic integration with China; (5) thoroughly eradicate government corruption; (6) establish a world-class infrastructure; and (7) complete essential financial reforms.
The
MOEA believes that white papers on Taiwan issued by foreign chambers of commerce are very important, and consistently sound the alarm on major policy deficiencies. Responding to AmCham's hopes for Taiwan's government, over the past few years, the
MOEA has addressed AmCham's recommendations, coordinated solutions with other government agencies, and has done its utmost to press for reforms. For instance, during the past year
MOEA has (1) established an intellectual property court to better protect intellectual property rights; approved the complete elimination of prohibitions or restrictions on foreign investment in negative list items including the financial industry, land transportation industry, and leasing industry; and (3), in order to help businesses to recruit manpower, eased restrictions on application to allow foreign students at the university level or above to serve internships in Taiwan by expanding the scope of eligibility from a limited number of high-tech industries to all industries. Moreover, the
MOEA will continue to actively implement other reforms proposed by AmCham.
(Ministry of Economic Affairs)
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