President Ma Ying-jeou met with a group of scholars from international think tanks on the afternoon of May 15. The delegation included Lawrence J. Lau (Vice-Chancellor of The Chinese University of Hong Kong, and an Academia Sinica Fellow), Agnes Benassy-Quere (Director of France's CEPII), Paola Subacchi (Research Director of the International Economics Programme at England's Royal Institute of International Affairs), and K. Kesavapany (Director of Singapore's Institute of Southeast Asian Studies). The president extended a warm welcome and appreciation to the scholars who came to Taiwan at the invitation of the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research to take part in the International Conference on the Impacts of and Lessons Learned from the Global Economic Crisis.
The president noted that 2008 Nobel Laureate in Economics Dr. Paul Krugman also was recently invited to visit Taiwan to express his opinions on the state of the international economy. The president said that after his administration took office in May of last year, it first had to address the threat of inflation caused by rising commodity prices. Soon thereafter, the government faced challenges caused by the global financial tsunami. Even though the government immediately moved to fully insure all bank deposits in an effort to stabilize the situation, Taiwan's exports then succumbed to a contraction in global markets, which had the effect of causing joblessness to rise here. While the pace of the slowdown is waning, clear signs of recovery have yet to be seen, the president said. The government has adopted a number of measures to boost domestic consumption, including the issuance of spending vouchers to the public. He added that the government is in need of the opinions of domestic and foreign scholars and experts to address the problems facing the nation.
With respect to the development of markets, a topic of interest to the guests, President Ma said that in the past Taiwan was over-reliant on the American and Japanese markets. The government has already begun adjusting policies and is looking to develop markets in emerging economies, such as Brazil and Russia. This, however, is not something that happens overnight. While Taiwan is currently developing economic and trade relations with mainland China, it cannot solely rely on that market either. The president said Taiwan must not attempt to develop in isolation from the rest of the world, and therefore needs to develop economic and trade ties with its neighbors. For instance, Taiwan is looking to sign a free trade agreement with Singapore, but this takes time. He mentioned that ASEAN first began to discuss the topic of economic integration in 2002 and various measures in this regard will take effect next year. Taiwan's textile, petrochemical and machinery sectors will be the most sharply affected by the economic integration of ASEAN. The signing of an economic cooperation framework agreement between Taiwan and mainland China, he said, will focus on addressing the easy things first and difficult issues later. Areas in which a consensus exists can be acted upon initially in order to benefit Taiwan's economy, he said.
The guests expressed their opinions that Taiwan has significant potential to develop into a regional banking and financial management center. They said that as an export-oriented economy, Taiwan inevitably will feel the impact of the current economic slowdown. However, some industries are still exhibiting strength and will be able to buck the trend, they said. The guests also expressed their optimism with regards to the improvement in cross-strait relations. They also said they have been impressed with the policies adopted by the government to promote industry and the economy. They indicated that fostering economic growth relies on not only attracting foreign investment, but also on keeping it here and encouraging foreign investors to participate in development projects. This is what will bring substantive benefits to Taiwan's economic development, they said.