Taipei, Oct. 5 (CNA) Republic of China Presdient Chen Shui-bian received visiting U.S. economist Lester Thurow Friday and exchanged views with him on the economic problems faced by Taiwan and the rest of the world.
Chen explained to Thurow the government's decision to replace the "no haste, be patient" policy with an "active opening, efficient management" stance to handle trade and investment relations with mainland China.
The president described the new policy as a "new milestone" in the development of cross-Taiwan Strait relations.
He also stated that in order to implement the more than 300 recommendations reached through consensus at the recently-held Economic Development Advisory Conference, necessary measures are being worked out in the Legislative Yuan and relevant government institutions.
Chen said that the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States have affected not only the United States, but also Taiwan and other countries.
He added that the world's attention is also being drawn to the upcoming informal leadership conference of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum to be held later this month in Shanghai and the ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization to be held in Qatar next month.
During the reception, Chen asked Thurow what Taiwan should do to cope with the current economic sluggishness.
The economics professor from MIT said that Taiwan's economy will be able to make an upturn only after the global economy begins to rebound.
For now, he suggested that Taiwan place more emphasis on investment in public projects and follow the formula of Sweden to strengthen skills training for unemployed workers.
Through reeducation, Thurow said that fresh labor power can be injected into the labor market once the economy begins bottoming out.
Regarding the booming mainland Chinese market, he said that he would not consider mainland China a big market at present because its economic scale accounts for only 2 percent of the world economy.
The professor noted that the consumption market in mainland China is small, although it is a good place for manufacturing.
He went on to say that it may take 100 years for mainland China to expand its economy to the present scale of the United States, and added that official statistics released by Beijing are questionable.