President Ma Ying-jeou met on the afternoon of October 26 with a group of business leaders who have been singled out for their excellence. Some in the group were from domestic companies, while others represented foreign firms with a presence in Taiwan. During their meeting at the Presidential Office, President Ma reiterated the need to promote a Taiwan-style economic recovery, with the aim of building up Taiwan while linking with the Asia-Pacific region and deploying globally.
In remarks to the gathering, the president first expressed his appreciation to the group members for their contributions to the development of Taiwan's economy and external trade. The world has experienced an economic downturn over the past two-plus years, but Taiwan has taken active steps to overcome the adversity, just like it has done over the past 60 years when faced with the global oil crises, the Asian financial crisis, and other such challenges. The country is now emerging steadily from the doldrums, posting economic growth of 13.1% in the first half of this year, and the Executive Yuan's Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics forecasts growth for the year as a whole to reach 8.24%. The UK's Economist Intelligence Unit predicts Taiwan's growth to reach 9.2% this year, while the International Monetary Fund has hiked its forecast growth for the nation to 9.3%. This shows that foreign institutions are extremely bullish on the prospects for Taiwan's economic development, he said.
President Ma commented that the term "Taiwan-style economic recovery" implies four characteristics: strong employment growth; innovation; energy conservation & reduction in carbon emissions; and participation in regional economic integration. Commenting on the quest for strong employment growth, the president pointed out that joblessness stood at 5.05% in September, which was a full percentage point lower than a year earlier. Over the past year, about 250,000 jobs have been created, and overall trends point to a continued drop in unemployment, he said. As for innovation, the president remarked that the Act for Industrial Innovation passed in April of this year reduces the business income tax rate from 25% to 17% and provides various incentives for companies to engage actively in R&D. On the subject of energy conservation and reduced carbon emissions, he said that the government originally set a target for the volume of carbon emissions in 2020 to be cut to 2008 levels. It has since switched to a tougher target, calling for 2020 emissions to be cut to 2005 levels, and further set the goal of reducing emissions in 2025 to the levels of 2000. Lastly, with regard to participation in regional economic integration, the president pointed out that Taiwan and mainland China signed the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement on June 29 of this year and that preliminary talks on an economic cooperation agreement with Singapore were held on August 5. He said that the ROC also hopes to discuss mutually beneficial free trade agreements with other economically complementary nations, as this will truly enable Taiwan to reach out to the world and bring the world to Taiwan.
President Ma stressed that when he ran for president he expressed his intention to achieve the goal of building up Taiwan while linking with the Asia-Pacific region and deploying globally. The ROC, he stated, desires to be a peacemaker, a provider of humanitarian aid, a promoter of cultural ties, and a creator of new technologies and business opportunities. President Ma furthermore expressed his hope that the expertise and resources of these guests can be combined in an effort to truly maximize Taiwan's soft power and make a contribution to the international community.
The group was escorted to the Presidential Office in the afternoon by Chang Pen-Tsao, ROC General Chamber of Commerce Chairman, and Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Francis Kuo-Hsin Liang. Also attending the meeting was National Security Council Deputy Secretary-General John C.C.