Taiwan announces opening to Chinese investment

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TAIPEI, June 30 Kyodo -
Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs announced Tuesday an immediate opening to
investment from China, a key step in further binding together Taiwan's and
China's economies.
The ministry formally designated 100 items in the manufacturing, service and
construction sectors currently open to Chinese investment.
Starting immediately, Chinese firms can also apply to the ministry to establish
branch offices, joint ventures or wholly owned enterprises on the island, the
ministry said in a press release.
''We hope opening up to Chinese investment will make our economy prosper,''
said Vice Economic Affairs Minister John Deng at a Taipei press conference.
The initial ''phase one'' opening-up, Deng said, would not include sensitive
high-tech industries such as flat-screen and computer chip manufacturing and
some telecommunications services.
Also off the table for now are issuing professional licenses to Chinese
nationals and opening up tertiary education institutions to students from
China, the release said.
Chinese investors with military-related investments or ''military objectives''
would be restricted from investing on the island, while the ministry said it
would ban any firm from the mainland whose potential investments could pose
national security risks or risks of monopoly, according to the release.
The measures are part of Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou's bid to further
integrate the economies across the Taiwan Strait and improve bilateral
relations.
However, the island's main opposition Democratic Progressive Party charges the
opening-up policies will lead to a buying spree of Taiwanese enterprises as a
prelude to political unification, the goal of China, which claims self-ruled
Taiwan as part of its territory.
==Kyodo
2009-06-30 21:31:16