President Ma Ying-jeou on the morning of January 10 attended the opening of the 2011 CommonWealth Economic Forum, where he stressed that Taiwan is going to become a force for quicker economic integration in Asia. He furthermore said that Taiwan is working to become a global headquarters for Taiwan companies, a regional headquarters for foreign firms, a global center for innovation, and an Asia-Pacific center for higher education, adding that the nation will show a brand new face to the world in a rising new Asia.
The president remarked that Taiwan hopes to create an economic recovery here with Taiwan characteristics, which he listed as follows: high employment growth; innovation; energy conservation and carbon reduction; and participation in regional economic integration. Taiwan has already reached a portion of its objectives in this respect. Taking the example of high employment growth, the president said that Taiwan's unemployment rate fell from 6.13% in June 2009 to 4.73% in November of last year, and a total of 235,000 jobs were created last year. On the subject of innovation, President Ma said that last year's passage of the Act for Industrial Innovation encourages enterprises to devote resources to R&D and innovation, and the government cut the business income tax to 17%. As for energy conservation, the president commented that Taiwan was a major emitter of carbon prior to 2008. While home to less than 0.3% of the world's population, Taiwan was responsible for 1% of the world's carbon emissions. Starting in 2008, however, Taiwan's carbon emissions began to drop, falling 4.1% that year and another 4.9% in 2009. Last year, the nation's energy efficiency rose by 4%. And in terms of regional economic integration, the president pointed out that last June's signing of the cross-strait Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) was the first step in opening the door to participation in regional economic integration. Talks will be held this year on different fronts to broaden the scope of the ECFA's applicability, he said.
Touching on Taiwan's economic performance, the president stated that the combined value of Taiwan's imports and exports last year stood at about US$520 billion and economic growth for the year is expected to have hit 9.98%. A survey of CEOs of 1,000 major enterprises carried out by CommonWealth magazine showed that 71% of the CEOs intend to increase the number of their employees in Taiwan this year, while 75% of CEOs expressed an intention to hike salaries. Besides economic growth, the president mentioned that the government wants to see an equitable distribution of wealth. In 2009, he said, the top 20% of households had an income 6.34 times that of the lowest 20%, and the Gini coefficient stood at 0.345. This was comparable to Japan, but lower than Hong Kong, Singapore, the United States, and Europe. President Ma added that his administration has already established a special task force to focus on ways to address the wealth gap.
Taiwan's competitiveness is also improving, he noted, pointing to last year's World Competitiveness Yearbook released by Switzerland's International Institute for Management Development (IMD) that ranked Taiwan as the eighth most competitive economy. Taiwan ranked sixth in the category of Government Efficiency and third in Business Efficiency. All three of these rankings were the best ever for Taiwan, he remarked. Meanwhile, the Global Competitiveness Report produced by the World Economic Forum ranked Taiwan 13th globally and fourth in Asia. This demonstrates that Taiwan's status and image are gradually improving, the president explained.
President Ma believes there are four major goals Taiwan needs to keep in mind as it works to create a new future for itself in a rising Asia. First, Taiwan needs to be a force for quicker economic integration in Asia. Trade within the region already surpasses the volume of trade between Asia and other regions. Last year after Taiwan and mainland China signed the ECFA, Singapore and Taiwan issued a joint statement indicating that talks will be held this year on a bilateral trade partnership agreement. In addition, consultations between Taiwan and the United States on their Trade and Investment Framework Agreement are also slated to resume this year. Second, Taiwan needs to serve as a global headquarters for Taiwan companies and a regional headquarters for foreign companies. Situated in the heart of East Asia, Taiwan enjoys a geographic advantage, he said, noting that the commencement of flight service from Taipei's Songshan Airport to Shanghai's Hongqiao Airport and Tokyo's Haneda Airport can save considerable time and help to create a "golden loop" of prime flight routes in Northeast Asia. In the future, Taiwan will hold talks with South Korea to begin flights between Songshan Airport and Seoul's Gimpo International Airport. He expressed his hope that this convenient transportation network will link Northeast Asia's four major economies and boost the willingness of foreign enterprises to establish regional headquarters here. Third, Taiwan needs to be a global center for innovation. Reduced customs tariffs in the wake of the institution of the ECFA, plus a reduction in the business income tax, offer a prime opportunity to develop new technologies and business opportunities and to enter the mainland market. At the same time, the two sides of the Taiwan Strait have also inked other agreements on service industries and protection of intellectual property rights that provide greater protections to innovators, the president said.
And fourth, the president spoke of Taiwan's need to become an Asia-Pacific center for higher education. He explained that Taiwan has abundant educational resources and that the Ministry of Education is currently formulating plans to treat the nation's institutions of higher education as an import economic sector, so as to expand our soft power. In particular, Taiwan has a big advantage in the teaching of Chinese as a second language due to the high quality of its teachers and its use of orthodox characters. This will help to attract international students to study in Taiwan, he said.
President Ma reiterated that as a member of the international community, the ROC wants to be a peacemaker, a provider of humanitarian aid, a promoter of cultural ties, a creator of new technologies and business opportunities, and a standard-bearer at the leading edge of Chinese culture. We want to make the ROC a nation that is both respected by and inspiring to people around the world, he commented.