Chiu made the remarks while speaking at the Financial District Economic Development Forum in Taipei yesterday.

The vice premier said the Financial Supervisory Commission and a Cabinet-level reform committee are drafting plans to cut taxes and further deregulate the financial industry in order to attract more investment to Taiwan.

At the same time, Taiwan, supported by its strategic location in the Asia-Pacific and its powerful high-tech industry, can become a “duo-center” for the financial and high-tech industries, he said.

He said countries, regions and cities all over the world are trying to position themselves as financial centers, including New York, London, Hong Kong, Singapore, as well as new additions such as Seoul and Shanghai.

Chiu placed a particular focus on two places — Luxemberg and Ireland. “In Luxemberg, their per capita income in 2006 was US$81,511, due to political stability, tax incentives and flexibility of regulation,” he said. “This in turn has attracted a huge amount of foreign capital to the country and secured the nation as the No. 1 liberalized country of Europe. Today it is one of the world’s seven top financial centers.”

In Ireland, Chiu said: “The country in 1987 established the Dublin Financial Center, which has become a regional hub for banking, mutual funds, asset management and insurance service providers, despite its proximity to the international financial capital of London.”

“In 1990, the country registered a financial trade surplus of US$5.082 billion, significantly larger than the US$167 million for Singapore and US$507 million for Hong Kong,” he added.

The vice premier then expressed his optimism Taiwan can achieve the same level of success. “If we were to take advantage of our geographic and strategic location and to further deregulate taxation and flow of capital and human resources across the Taiwan Strait, it’s possible Taiwan can become an Asia-Pacific Operations Center.”

“Now that Taiwan has the world’s second most advanced IT industry, abundant with high-tech professionals, the island has in essence become a high-tech investment center,” he added. “If we can incorporate this high-tech prowess into the island’s financial sector, combined with efforts to deregulate and upgrade Taiwan people’s English skills and world views, we can turn this island into a ‘duo center’ for high-tech and finance.”