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Updated Wednesday, May 13, 2009 9:33 am TWN, The China Post news staff Taiwan ready for Chinese investmentOfficials at the policy-making Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said the new measures will take effect in late June at the latest. Minister Yiin said the government is adopting a gradual approach in opening the country to Chinese investment, with initially strict restrictions and an incremental expansion of the permitted fields for investment. In the initial stage, the liberalization will include 63 industries in the manufacturing sector covering traditional Chinese herbal medicines, automobiles, textiles, and plastic and rubber processing products. Investments in industries like silicon wafers and TFT-LCD flat panels will still be prohibited for now. There will be 24 business lines in the services sector, including wholesale, retailing, tourism and transport services. In addition, 11 operations in the infrastructure sector will be opened to Chinese investments. But contract business will be excluded to protect local construction contractors, Yiin said. The regulations will also include a provision that bans any monopoly or oligopoly investment and firms that have stakes owned by Chinese military units, he went on. If a Chinese investor or company acquires a more than 10 percent stake in a local business, it will be regarded as direct investment in Taiwan and subject to strict monitoring and supervision, according to Yiin. A full list of permitted lines and industries of Chinese investment are set to be released later this month. Yiin said more investment fields will be opened to Chinese concerns in future stages. Meanwhile, an inter-ministerial meeting coordinated by the Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD) finalized the criteria for indirect investments by overseas-registered Chinese businesses. According to the rules, Chinese investors having a 30 or more percent stake will be subject to the same restrictions as any other Chinese businesses after Taiwan formally opens to Chinese investment. But overseas firms with Chinese investment having "substantive influence" on corporate business operations will come under same scrutiny even if the Chinese stakes do not exceed the 30 percent limit. The criteria is aimed at preventing Chinese investors from using the guise of overseas-registered businesses to bypass the investment restrictions directly from China. CEPD officials explained that the provision is necessary because in some cases, a shareholder holding less than 30 percent of stock can appoint the chairman and president of a company and thus can have substantive control of the business. MAC officials said the new measures should be able to take effect no later than the end of June after the whole set of measures are approved by the Cabinet. Business and industry leaders welcomed the investment-liberalization measures worked out by the government. They expect the move will help bolster cooperation between enterprises across the Taiwan Strait and beef up their international competitiveness. Opening up Taiwan to Chinese investment was one of the major policies pushed by the new government led by President Ma Ying-jeou. Understandings and guidelines were reached April 26 in Nanjing between the chief negotiators representing the respective sides -- Chairman Chiang Pin-kung of the Taipei based Straits Exchange Foundation and President Chen Yunlin of the Beijing-based Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits. The measure is expected to reverse the present one-way movement of investment from Taiwan to China and help normalize cross-strait trade and economic ties. Subscribe to The China Post and save 25%. Click here Comments May 13, 2009 duckbilltw@ Reply Has it ever occurred to the government that if one day all investment from Mainland China were withdrawn one day what would happen to Taiwan? It is a mere fact that all big companies from Mainland China are government controlled. When the day comes, China does not need military forces to get Taiwan back to the mother country of China. China will just use economic forces to close you down. It is also true without China's help right now there is no future for Taiwan. May 13, 2009 tsungswang@ Duckbill is right, China is using the back door trying to get Taiwan to buckle under economic pressure. I'm an advocate of the Status Quo, neither reunifying nor declaring independence. The Ma Government is just moving too fast towards China's side (as if they are making up for the lost time when Chen was in power). I specially have serious issues about granting college degrees to Chinese students. The college degree issue would likely open up to allow people from the mainland to work in Taiwan. Not a good idea, Taiwan should take care of its own people 1st. May 15, 2009 ptslhm@ The previous comments seem to be too worrisome, and even irrational. As a matter of fact, it's a Cold War thinking that should have elapsed more than 20 years ago with the collapse of the Berlin wall and the dissolving of the ex-Soviet Union. Time and tide have changed so much and fast, how could we modern people live in a world that no longer exists? My humble opinions are:Firstly, Communism has failed. In formality, there are still several Communist countries that exist in the world, such as PRC in the east and Cuba in the west. In reality, the Socialism they held within has been defeated by Capitalism. Communism is still our common enemy, but she was defeated by the good human natures like righteousness, kindness, and freedom. Communism will never come back to favor in the future, so why be afraid of it? Secondly, we should go forward. There are many countries and cultures in our world, and only mutual respect and recognition can further peace and development. As we have triumphed over the evils of communism before, why can’t we take further steps to guide them, assist them, and interact with them to help them achieve of our form of democracy and fruits of freedom? Last and most importantly, the twisted Communist China were certainly be opened, legalized, and made more civilized. Dealing, negotiating, and cooperating with her is a must in this current world stage, of which PRC has become more and more important with her economic power. It’s in the interest of all mankind today. How to prevent or control the risks of our continued interaction with China, whether politically, economically or national security wise, is another question. May 18, 2009 robert_CHEN2@ ptslhm@ wrote: You are exactly rightThe previous comments seem to be too worrisome, and even irrational. As a matter of fact, it's a Cold War thinking that should have elapsed more than 20 years ago with the collapse of the Berlin wall and the dissolving of the ex-Soviet Union. Time and tide have changed so much and fast, how could we modern people live in a world that no longer exists? My humble opinions are: Firstly, Communism has failed. In formality, there are still several Communist countries that exist in the world, such as PRC in the east and Cuba in the west. In reality, the Socialism they held within has been defeated by Capitalism. Communism is still our common enemy, but she was defeated by the good human natures like righteousness, kindness, and freedom. Communism will never come back to favor in the future, so why be afraid of it? Secondly, we should go forward. There are many countries and cultures in our world, and only mutual respect and recognition can further peace and development. As we have triumphed over the evils of communism before, why can’t we take further steps to guide them, assist them, and interact with them to help them achieve of our form of democracy and fruits of freedom? Last and most importantly, the twisted Communist China were certainly be opened, legalized, and made more civilized. Dealing, negotiating, and cooperating with her is a must in this current world stage, of which PRC has become more and more important with her economic power. It’s in the interest of all mankind today. How to prevent or control the risks of our continued interaction with China, whether politically, economically or national security wise, is another question. May 18, 2009 peterl@ Whether it was Chen or Ma, moving closer to China was always part of the plan. Participating in the WTO is not that great an idea at times, just look at the way that Hollywood killed TW cinema. At least joining forces with the world’s largest market, media like other consumable goods, Taiwan can continue to have an influential role. Taiwan built the China that exists today... |
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