Taiwan Today

Per capita will top US$2,000 this year The Council for Economic Planning and Develop­ment has se t the economic growth rate at 8 per cent for 1980. The GNP will reach NT$1,332,700 million (about US$37,019 million) at current prices and per capita income NT$75,461 (US$2,096). Population increase is set at 1.9 per cent and retail price inflation at 7.5 per cent. Growth rates for various seg­ments of the economy are as follows: agriculture, 1 per cent: Industry. 10.1 per cent (mining, 4.5 per cent: manufacturing, 10.4 per cent; construction, 8.4 per cent; public utilities. 10.4 per cent); services, 6.8 per cent (transportation. 7.7 per cent; other services, 6.6 per cent). Exports are forecast at US$19,230 million and imports at US$18,890 million for a surplus of US$340 million. The labor force will number 6,686,000, of whom 6,599,000 will be employed. Agriculture will employ 20.7 per cent, industry 42.2 per cent and services 37.1 per cent. Eastern European trade ties opened S. K. Shao, director general of the Board of Foreign Trade, con­firmed that the government had decided to open up trade with Eastern European countries. The government approved these regulations for the trade: - Exports will be through a third country or directly if approved by the Board of Foreign Trade. - Trade with the Soviet Union. Romania. Albania and Bulgaria will be conducted through third countries. Direct trade may be conducted with Yugoslavia, East Germany, Po­land, Hungary and Czechoslovakia. - Manufacturers and export­ers may send representatives to countries with which direct trade is permitted. - Citizens of Eastern Euro­pean countries may come to Taiwan for business or procurement with the approval of government agencies. - Products exported to Eastern European countries do not have to be labeled "Made in the Republic of China" or "Made in Taiwan." - Manufacturers will be allowed to set up trade centers in Eastern Europe and dispatch staff members for trade negoti­ations. Officials of the Investment Commission of the Ministry of Economic Affairs said Taiwan will welcome investments from manufacturers in Eastern European countries. Local companies will not be permitted to invest in Eastern European countries. Banks of Taiwan will establish correspondence relations with banks in Eastern Europe. Con­tacts have been made with bankers in Yugoslavia and Hungary. The government decision to open trade relations with Eastern Europe does not mean the Republic of China is changing its anti-Communist stand, the Mini­stry of Foreign Affairs declared. "Under no circumstances shall we deviate from our anti-Commu­nist policy," said spokesman Charles King. Japan-Red China trade limited Tracie prospects between the Chinese mainland and Japan are limited, K.T. Li, minister without portfolio, said. Li noted that in 1965 exports to the mainland accounted for 2.9 per cent of the Japanese total. In 1978 the percentage was 3.1, a tiny increase over the 14-year period. As for oil, 1978 imports from the mainland accounted for bare­ly 3 per cent of Japan's con­sumption. Peiping's modernization campaign is unlikely to change the picture. Minister Li predicted Red China's economic modernization will encounter a host of problems, including that of capital for­mation. Li Hsien-nien said the Chinese Communists will need US$600 billion to finance its 10-year development plan in a land where per capita income is US$152. "Six hundred billion dollars is an astronomical figure for such an impoverished regime," Li said. Other factors working against Peiping capital formation are population growth and spending for military modernization. Peiping has little foreign ex­change. Li said the reserve at the end of 1977 was US$4 billion. To finance massive imports of technology, grains and mili­tary hardware, the Chinese Com­munists must expand their exports. The U.S. Commerce Department has estimated Red China will suffer trade deficits amount­ing to US$35 billion for the 10 years ending in 1985. Prospects of crude oil exports are not good. Production is low and the regime's energy consumption will rise. Peiping also lacks qualified manpower. One Communist official has admitted that worker productivity is at the 1958 level. Peiping's own estimate puts the number of trained personnel at 400,000, only half of the required number. Science park will get plants The science-based Industrial Park at Hsinchu will begin functioning this year, said Dr. S.S. Shu, chairman of the National Science Council. About 10 high technology industries will set up factories. First-stage development of the 2,000-hectare park, which covers an area of 210 hectares, has been going on since last summer. Shu said some 600 hectares of land within the park area will be developed during three stages over a period of 10 years. First products will be export­ed in about three years. Public facilities, an administration complex, a training center and housing are to be built. Dr. Shu said NSC has sent 1,483 scientists abroad for advanced training. Nearly 97 per cent of them returned for home assignments. NSC has also provided fellow­ships for post-graduate training at local institutes and has appoint­ed 2,300 senior scientists abroad to fill professorial chairs at home. For this fiscal year, NSC has allocated NT$206,890,000 (about US$5,747,000) to support 711 research projects and research grants to 1,379 faculty members of local colleges and universities. Fourth nuclear plant planned The Taiwan Power Company has completed a plan under which state enterprise will spend US$2.5 billion to build the fourth nuclear power plant within the next eight years. L.K. Chen, chairman of Taipower, said the company has found four suitable sites for the plant, all in northern Taiwan. When the location is decided early this year, Taipower will invite international bidding for the purchase of reactors and generators. Construction will start early in 1981. Unit No. 3 of the Hisiehho Power Plant near Keelung was brought into the power grid in December. Installed capacity is 500,000 KW, the same as the other two. The unit was installed in the world record time of only 26 months. The fourth unit will be com­pleted in August, 1983. State enterprises plan expansion State-owned enterprises will invest NT$620.8 billion (about US$17.2 billion) in the next six years to boost production. The following industries will make the lion's share of the investment: - Energy industry: NT$545.5 billion (about US$15.1 billion). - Fertilizer industry: NT$9.9 billion (about US$275 million). - Metal industry: NT$36.1 billion (about US$1 billion). - Heavy machinery: NT$15.4 billion (about US$438 million). - Chemicals: NT$13.9 billion (about US$386 million). State-owned enterprises will register combined sales income of NT$453.7 billion (about US­$12.6 billion) in fiscal 1986, showing an increase of 116.1 per cent compared with the NT­$209.9 billion (about US$5.8 billion) recorded in fiscal 1980. Profits before taxes will reach NT$56 billion in fiscal 1986, up 382.7 per cent over the figure in fiscal 1980. State-owned enterprises in­clude the Chinese Petroleum Corporation, Taiwan Power Com­pany, Taiwan Fertilizer Company, Taiwan Sugar Corporation, Tai­wan Machinery Manufacturing Corporation, Taiwan Metal Mining Corporation, Taiwan Aluminum Corporation, China Phosphate Industries Corporation, China Shipbuilding Corporation, China Steel Corporation, Chung-Tai Chemical Industries Corporation, China Petrochemical Development Corporation, BES Engineering Corporation and Taiwan Alkali Company. Government to help all industries Free China will continue to develop heavy and sophisticated industries despite lack of natural resources and the shortage of energy, the Industrial Development Bureau said. Yu Teh-lin, head of the bureau, said the government policy is aimed at reducing dependence on imports for the supply of major primary and intermediate raw materials In view of the huge energy needs of heavy industries and the pressure of rising wages, development of technology­-intensive industries is even more urgent. Yu said. However, he added, the government will continue assisting the private sector in upgrading light industries because they are still the principal foreign exchange earner. Small and medium enterprises will continue to receive govern­ment help, since they constitute over 95 per cent of the manu­facturing plants in the country. Basic industries will show growth Six basic industries will register moderate growth in 1980, industrialists predicted, but may be affected by oil price hikes. An analysis of the projected growth rates follows: - Non-ferrous metals: Production of cathode copper will rise 133 per cent as the result of expansion by the Taiwan Metal Mining Corporation. Copper bars will grow 6.5 per cent; wires, 9.1 per cent and plate 19 per cent. Aluminum extrusions will be up 13 per cent, ingots 21 per cent and plate 29 per cent. - Man-made fiber: Output of rayon is expected to increase 23 per cent, but other fibers will show declines. Nylon filament will decline 14 per cent. - Spinning and weaving: Production of cotton blended with synthetic fiber will increase by 47 per cent, while corduroy garments decline 6.9 per cent. Other materials should show moderate growth. - Garments: Leather gar­ments will be up 38 per cent knitware and sweaters by small amounts. - Steel. Output will be up by from 4 to 13 per cent. Sheet steel is expected to grow by 5 per cent because of improved production by the China Steel Corporation. - Machinery: Sewing ma­chines will be up. Some manufacturers are not planning increases because they fear import restrictions. Growth of from 4 to 20 per cent is in prospect. China and Korea widen cooperation Chinese and Korean in­dustrialists pledged to broaden cooperation in machinery, plywood, footwear, eel trading, electronics, banking and development of energy resources. The pledges came at the two­-day 12th Joint Conference of the Councils for Sino-Korean and Korean-China Economic Cooper­ation. Delegates agreed to submit their energy proposal to the two governments. In banking, the Chinese dele­gation agreed to set aside US$5 million as loans for import of Korean goods and urged that banking institutions set up correspondence ties or branches. The Chinese proposed that export-import banks of the two countries help finance sales of complete plants. Chinese importers agreed to take at least 30 million eel fry a year. Koreans agreed to buy 500 tons of adult eels from Tai­wan annually. In footwear, plywood and electronics, the two sides agreed to expand cooperation. In shipping, the Chinese asked the Koreans to allow Chinese vessels to load cargo in Korea just as Americans, Japanese, Germans and Danes do. The Chinese side also pro­posed that Chinese and Korean shipping companies split the ship­ment of bulk commodities. General Instrument has grown up Fifteen years ago last Decem­ber, some 120 girl high school graduates reported to a one-story brick building hastily constructed at Hsintien to learn to make now obsolete electronic parts with what are now considered primitive tools. General Instrument Taiwan was to parlay its initial investment of NT$400,000 (about US­$11,111) in to the biggest electronic company in Taiwan with technology so advanced that in Asia only Japan can match it. The red building with floor space of 18,000 square feet is now used mainly as a tool plant and constitutes about 3 per cent of GIT's 522,772 square feet of space. Successors to the girls number nearly 20,000 and their tools and equipment are valued at over US$35 million. In the beginning, GIT made UHF tuners — the channel selectors used on old fashioned TV sets. The company has since moved into manufacturing some of the most sophisticated elec­tronic components in the world. Among them is the silicon rectifier, a vital part in most electronic apparatus. In Asia, the slicing and diffusion of silicon can be done only by GIT and some factories in Japan. In 1974, GIT's daily output of this product broke the million mark. Now GIT turns out as many as 4.2 million silicon rectifiers each day, or 60 per cent of all those needed by the electronic industry of the world. Chinese engineers of GIT have developed a "super rectifier" which is more effective and lasts longer. GIT has also trained more than 65,000 engineers, technicians and workers. Provincial projects slated for 1980s The Taiwan Provincial Gov­ernment's Economic Planning Agency has completed a draft plan for economic projects in the 1980s. A total of more than NT$88,941.5 million (about US$2,412.6 million) will be needed. Projects will include: - Round-the-island railroad system: NT$2,928.9 million (about US$81.3 million). - Cross-island highways: NT$­680 million (about US$19 mil­lion). - Improvement of the Kao­hsiung-Pingtung highway: NT$589.5 million (about US$16.4 million). - Taichung Port: NT$1,800 million (about US$50 million). - Development of new towns and housing project: NT$19 billion (about US$528 million). - Improvement of irrigation systems: NT$422.6 million (about US$11.7 million). - Embankments and levees: NT$3,173.3 million (about US$88.1 million). - Widening of the Pingtung­-Oluanpi highway: NT$750 million (about US$21 million). - Farm mechanization: NT$6,179.9 million (about US$171.6 million). - Construction of cultural centers: NT$612.5 million (a bout US$17 million). Data industry shows promise The government will adopt a market-oriented development policy in the 1980s to encourage a strong data industry, K. T. Li, minister without portfolio, told the National Computer Symposium. Li said successful development of the industry depends on "syn­chronized advances" of both the information industry, which in­cludes computer hardware and software development, data pro­cessing technologies and information transmission, and the effec­tive use of computer systems. The minister said that training in these areas will be strengthened in schools and at work and that students studying such subjects as mathematics will be encouraged to take courses in computer science. Taiwan computers have been widely used in accounting, production, inventory control, and personnel management. Li said the government intends to promote computer technology for such higher level tasks as data management and decision making. The data access service to be inaugurated by the International Telecommunications Administra­tion will enable local industries to widen their use of computers.