Full text of President Chen Shui-bian’s 2007 National Day Address. Vice Preside - II

Furthermore, the 2007 World Competitiveness Report released by the International Institute for Management Development on May 10 this year ranked Taiwan 18th and South Korea 29th. Meanwhile, in the three major indices of the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report 2006-2007 released in September 2006 — the Growth Competitiveness Index, the Global Competitiveness Index, and the Business Competitiveness Index — Taiwan ranked 6th (first in Asia), 13th, and 21st, respectively, while South Korea ranked 21st, 24th, and 25th.

As the aforementioned statistics and rankings demonstrate, Taiwan is no less impressive, economically speaking, than South Korea, both nations qualifying as an “Asian tiger” in terms of overall economic performance, government finance, domestic real purchasing power, and various competitiveness rankings.

Currently, Taiwan’s production values in the important categories of large TFT-LCD flat panel manufacturing, contract IC chip making, and IC packaging and testing rank first in the world. As of the end of August, this year’s business turnover at Taiwan’s three major science parks — Hsinchu Science Park, Central Taiwan Science Park, and Southern Taiwan Science Park — stood at NT$1.23 trillion [about US$37.88 billion]. This figure is expected to increase to a record high of NT$2 trillion [about US$60.6 billion] by the end of the year.

In the future, this administration will work to accelerate development of, and attract investment in, the newly expanded facilities of each science park. It will also work to promote precision machinery, communications electronics, and biotechnology to become Taiwan’s third, fourth, and fifth trillion-NT-dollar industries, following the semiconductor and flat panel industries. It is hoped that this will help achieve the goal of balanced industrial and regional development within Taiwan. As for the stock market, which reflects our economy’s prospects, the Taiwan Stock Exchange weighted index has risen about 25 percent from the beginning of the year, and the overall value of traded stocks has hit record highs.

As can be seen, far from falling out of the ranks of the four Asian tigers, Taiwan has become a leader in numerous high-tech realms. It has expanded beyond Asia to achieve a global presence. Given this shining record, I am confident that as long as we keep Taiwan in our hearts and have confidence in her, she will certainly have high visibility in the world.

At the same time that this administration has pursued economic prosperity, we have never forgotten to work toward social fairness and justice. Over the past year, especially since Premier Chang Chun-hsiung took office, we have been striving in that direction by pushing forward the “Big Investment, Great Warmth” plan. For the first time in a decade, we raised the minimum monthly wage by 9.09 percent, and the minimum hourly wage by 44 percent, from NT$66 to NT$95. Over 1.4 million workers are benefiting from these measures.

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