President Ma Ying-jeou on the morning of February 5 attended a banquet at the Grand Hotel in Taipei to mark the Lunar New Year for representatives of Taiwan-invested enterprises based in mainland China. In addition to expressing his best wishes and Lunar New Year greetings to those attending the event, he also encouraged them to work together with the government in promoting peace and prosperity between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait.
In remarks, the president first noted that the average unemployment rate in Taiwan last year stood at 4.18%, while the consumer price index change rate rose only 0.79% for the year. And, Taiwan’s misery index—the sum of a country’s unemployment rate and consumer price index change rate—was the lowest of Asia's four little tigers, he said. At the same time, the president pointed out, as Taiwan's export orders hit a new record high in December 2013, the Executive Yuan's Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics has raised its estimated GDP growth for last year from an originally predicted 1.74% to 2.19%. Also, the Cabinet-level National Development Council released data showing that the economic monitoring indicator has turned from the yellow-blue to the green light stage, he said. Therefore, the economy this year will undoubtedly be better than last year, the president stated.
President Ma said that Taiwan's outstanding performance in various international ratings proves that the nation still maintains a high degree of competitiveness. Looking ahead, the government is promoting free economic pilot zones at home to promote the upgrading and transformation of domestic industries, while also picking up the pace in joining in regional economic integration, he remarked. The president expressed hope that Taiwan will join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), so it can identify its niche and find a viable way forward.
President Ma stated that 70% of Taiwan's GDP is dependent on external trade. He explained that prior to the signing of the Cross-Straits Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) with mainland China, the free trade agreements had only brought Taiwan less than US$1 in tariff exemptions and reductions per US$100 in trade. However, Taiwan's signing of the ANZTEC free trade agreement with New Zealand in July of last year and the ASTEP free trade agreement with Singapore in November, has increased that level to US$9.65 per US$100 of trade. Nonetheless, he said, this figure still lags considerably in comparison to Korea's US$36 and US$70 for Singapore. With this in mind, the government must quickly promote trade liberalization and prevent Taiwan's exports from being marginalized due to high tariffs, the president commented.
As for the free economic pilot zones (FEPZs), President Ma stated, the government is pursuing deregulation and market liberalization in a bid to attract investment by private enterprises. He specifically pointed to the example of international health care industry in such zones. Prior to his taking office in 2008, he said, the output value of this industry stood at about NT$1.9 billion, but as of last year had already grown to NT$13 billion, with the expectation that it could still have the chance to double over the next two or three years. President Ma expressed hope that the establishment of FEPZs will enable Taiwan to truly be in step with the world's most economically advanced and liberalized nations.
The president also commented that since he was sworn into office in 2008, the number of annual tourist arrivals to Taiwan has grown by nearly one million each year, reaching 8.01 million visits last year. Mainland Chinese tourists accounted for 2.21 million of these visits, while independent travelers from the mainland accounted for about 520,000 visits, he said. The president noted that the government last year also raised the number of daily arrivals permitted by mainlanders travelling in groups to 5,000 persons and the number of individual travelers daily to 3,000. This, he stated, is expected to further boost the number of mainland Chinese visitors to Taiwan this year. Meanwhile, the number of cross-strait flights has risen to about 95 scheduled flights daily now, in comparison with just a handful of chartered flights before he took office, the president said. Also, he mentioned, the number of mainland Chinese students coming to Taiwan to study has grown to over 24,000 at present compared with only about 800 prior to his taking office, which corresponds to a growth of 30 fold. All of these developments are conducive to promoting mutual understanding and interaction between people on either side of the Taiwan Strait, the president said.
Lastly, President Ma expressed his gratitude to the Taiwan-invested enterprises based in the mainland for providing local job opportunities and promoting growth in cross-strait trade. This has also contributed to Taiwan's longstanding trade surplus with mainland China, he said. The president ended his remarks by expressing his hope that these companies will work together with the government here to promote cross-strait peace and prosperity.