Taiwan Today

Top officials from both the Office of the President and the Executive Yuan intend to reinstate projects to set up special economic zones on the island, sources familiar with the issue revealed. The special economic zones are being deliberated because officials expect a new economic situation to develop following the expected signing of the economic cooperative framework agreement between Taipei and Beijing in June, sources pointed out. Relevant agencies are in the process of mapping out supporting measures, including infrastructure development, tax credits, special incentives and more flexible policies governing international labor. The Cabinet is expected to unveil these policies within one month, sources said. They pointed out that during the first stage special demonstration zones will be established at the country’s four major ports, as well as at the free trade zone adjacent to the Taoyuan Aerotroplis and at the nation’s export processing zones. Pending further needs, such operations can be strategically established throughout the island and ultimately all of Taiwan could be turned into a special economic zone. Future ECFA negotiations can also be conducted on a zone-to-zone basis, they noted. The special zones will serve as the basis for cross-strait commercial collaborations, with an emphasis on global planning and management. Efforts will be made to attract Taiwanese operating in foreign markets to move their headquarters back to the country, and to encourage foreign firms to use Taiwan as a gateway to mainland China. As centers for value-added processing, these special zones will create business opportunities in such service sectors as logistics, distribution and warehousing. Goods processed in these places can be labeled as made in Taiwan. These ideas are similar to the suggestion, promoted many years ago by now-Vice President Vincent Siew, of transforming Taiwan into an Asia-Pacific regional operations center, sources noted. Top officials expect to see multinational corporations set up regional headquarters in these special zones. Many businesses in Japan, the United States and the European Union have high expectations of the ECFA, and intend to set up production facilities in these special zones so that goods processed in them can be labeled as made in Taiwan and marketed to the mainland and the rest of Asia, they said. (SFC-HZW)