President Ma’s National Day Message Focuses on the Economy

President Ma’s National Day Message Focuses on the Economy

Source: China Times

Oct. 11, 2012

Yesterday, President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) delivered his National Day Message titled “Forging Ahead Together With Composure in the Face of Adversity.” He stated that during past few months, enormous political and economic changes had occurred, both here in Taiwan and around the world, however, some government policies had received criticism from the public. Some charged that our policy measures had not been well thought out, while others said that we had failed to clearly communicate our intentions, said Ma, adding that, “We have taken a close look at our performance, and sought to make improvements. Our response will come in the form of concrete action.”

The severe global economic downturn this year created major challenges for Taiwan. In order to deal with all the difficulties, President Ma stated that he proposed four main directions, i.e., reforming industrial structure and raising salary levels; eliminating investment barriers and increasing job opportunities; defending sovereignty and fishing rights, while promoting regional peace; and solidifying democracy and the rule of law, while enhancing the development of cross-Strait relations.

Ma also stated that we must reposition ourselves in the international economic and trade system and restructure our industry accordingly so as to create a new development model for Taiwan’s economy.

Later, Ma added that Taiwan should become a supplier of key components and precision equipment, as well as developer of innovative services. In addition to fostering new growth-driver industries, we must also support the efforts of our businesses to develop critical technologies, produce key components, and carry out research and development efforts aimed at creating precision equipment with intelligent functions and unique competitive advantages. This multi-track approach will ensure that our industrial firms will not easily be replaced by, nor become dependent upon, those of other nations. He went on to say that aside from manufacturing, we must also keep track of market trends and develop innovative business models, so that the service sector will enjoy a greater share of our industry’s output value and exports. In this way, we can transform our service industry into another engine that can drive economic growth and help to raise pay levels.

In addition, Ma also announced that the government would be launching a variety of flagship projects in different parts of the island, including the Taoyuan Aerotropolis Project in northern Taiwan, the Taichung Software Park, and the Taichung City Precision Machinery Science and Technology Park in central Taiwan. Moreover, a Free Economic Demonstration Zone would be established in Kaohsiung in southern Taiwan, said Ma, adding that after the Hualien-Taitung Line Electrification Project, the Double-Tracking Project in eastern Taiwan, and the South-Link Railway Improvement Project were completed, people would be able to easily make one-day round-trips between any two points in Taiwan in the future.

Furthermore, in order to create a more hospitable and convenient investment environment through further deregulation, President Ma also announced that, in relaxing restrictions on the investment of foreign capital in Taiwan’s industries, we would be sure to continue to safeguard our national security and interests, adding that in the future, liberalized policies would become the norm, and barriers the exception. He went on to say that we needed to eliminate controls on the labor market to match modern trends, provided that we do so in a manner that strikes a proper balance between promoting investment and protecting the interests of domestic labor.

In addition, President Ma also pointed out that the government shall thoroughly review and revise the Statute Governing Relations between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area, and would also push for both sides to set up offices in one another’s territory to serve the needs of businesses, students, and the general public. This would be the key focus of our work on the cross-Strait relationship as we move forward, said Ma. He also noted the fact that the ROC envoy to the 2012 APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting in Vladivostok, Russia, Lien Chan (連戰) expressed to Mainland leader Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) the strong desire of Taiwan’s people to meaningfully take part in international organizations, and received a positive response, adding Taiwan welcomed this development, as the sort of mutual trust that this evinced was highly beneficial for the development of the cross-Strait relationship. 
 

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