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On the morning of January 23 President Tsai Ing-wen met with a visiting delegation of economic affairs experts from the US-based Brookings Institution. Commenting on Taiwan's economic development prospects, the president stressed that Taiwan needs to continue innovating to respond to future challenges.
Noting that Taiwan has had much success in economic development, President Tsai stated that now is the time to consolidate our existing achievements and upgrade our industrial capabilities to meet the challenges of the next stage of development. One of the government's most important tasks, she said, is to help our industries enhance their capacity to innovate so they can face challenges and boldly pursue new ideas.
President Tsai mentioned that many talented entrepreneurs in Taiwan started out running small and medium-sized enterprises. So over the years, they accumulated extensive experience dealing with challenges of all kinds, and some have even become multinational corporations. Many Taiwanese information and communications technology (ICT) firms are now global leaders with worldwide operations, making ICT Taiwan's most internationalized industry sector.
In addition to the ICT sector, President Tsai pointed out that Taiwan's machinery manufacturers also have distinct advantages, and are devoting their efforts to developing smart machinery. If the machinery and ICT sectors can join forces, said the president, Taiwan will surely be more globally competitive in the Industry 4.0 era.
The delegation was headed by David Dollar, Senior Fellow of the John L. Thornton China Center at the Brookings Institution. Also in the delegation were: Evan S. Medeiros, Managing Director for Asia at the Eurasia Group; Ryan Hass, Fellow in the John L. Thornton China Center at the Brookings Institution; and Robert Wang, Senior Associate in the Asia Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
