President Ma Ying-jeou met with Japanese corporate strategy guru Dr. Kenichi Ohmae and Akita Prefecture Governor Norihisa Satake at the Presidential Office on the morning of June 22. The president, on behalf of the government and people of the ROC, extended a cordial welcome to the two on their visit to Taiwan.
President Ma remarked that Dr. Ohmae is a renowned forecaster of economic trends and is often referred to as Mr. Strategy. Besides being a well-known figure in Asia, Dr. Ohmae is also highly respected throughout the Americas and Europe. Dr. Ohmae, the president said, follows developments in Taiwan with keen interest, and maintains close contact with Taiwan's industrial sector and government. He pays particularly close attention to cross-strait relations, and many have benefitted greatly from his insightful commentary.
The president stated that two years ago the world experienced a financial tsunami that triggered an economic recession. Taiwan was no exception in succumbing to the downturn. Over the past half year, however, Taiwan's economy has recovered quickly, he said, with exports and imports both posting significant growth. In the first five months of this year, Taiwan's exports grew 53% year-on-year, while imports rocketed 71% year-on-year, new records on both scores. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate has continued to head downward. These indicators have provided a basis for many economic forecasting institutions to express optimistic outlooks for Taiwan's economy moving forward, the president said. For instance, the president said that the government expects GDP growth this year to reach 6.14%. Meanwhile, he commented that the government is presently engaged in negotiations with mainland China on an Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA). While this is an established policy of his administration, the president admitted that opinion regarding an ECFA with the mainland is still very divided.
The president remarked that mainland China last year became the world's leading exporting nation and is the second largest market for imports. It is expected that the mainland this year will become the world's second largest economy, he said. Over the past few years, he explained, Taiwan's aggregate exports to mainland China and Hong Kong have comprised over 40% of the ROC's total exports. Signing of the ECFA, combined with the factors just mentioned, should fuel continued growth in Taiwan's exports to mainland China. With this situation in mind, some individuals here have expressed concern as to whether Taiwan will become too reliant on mainland China, which could have negative effects in both the economic and political spheres, but others have expressed the belief that one should not be overly concerned about this situation as the world in general is becoming increasingly reliant on mainland China. As long as Taiwan continues to maintain a competitive edge in critical upstream technologies, an increase in bilateral trade volume is nothing to worry about. President Ma said that people who adopt this position point to the example of the trade relationship between Taiwan and Japan over the past several decades. Japan and Taiwan continue to chalk up enormous bilateral trade volumes, he said, with trade between the two last year hitting US$50.7 billion and US$64.0 billion in 2008. Japan enjoys an enormous trade surplus with Taiwan; nonetheless, Japan has never been concerned about over-reliance on Taiwan, the president said.
Dr. Ohmae and Akita Prefecture Governor Satake were accompanied to the Presidential Office in the morning by Minister of Economic Affairs Yen-Shiang Shih to meet President Ma. Also attending the meeting were National Security Council Secretary-General Hu Wei-jen and Chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chiang Pin-kung.