If the Tsai Gov’t Declines to, Then Let Han Kuo-yu Do It

 If the Tsai Gov’t Declines to, Then Let Han Kuo-yu Do It

China Times Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

June 4, 2019

 Translation of an Excerpt

At the pep rally on Ketagalan Boulevard, Han Kuo-yu once again raised the subject of the "Kaohsiung Free Economic and Trade Zone"; it looks like this will become an important policy plank when Han Kuo-yu runs for president. The Kaohsiung Free Trade Special Zone not only could gear up the prosperity and job opportunities of the three southern cities and counties, Kaohsiung, Pingtung and Tainan, but could also be the last opportunity for Taiwan to break through the "low income trap", being indeed the win-win policy that Han Kuo-yu employs in his presidential bid by using Kaohsiung City as its base.

Yeh Kuang-shih, Kaohsiung City deputy mayor, and Lin Chu-chia, former chairman of the National Development Council, said very well on a TV talk show recently that  a free trade special zone is like selling beef noodles in which the beef and wheat flour are both imported, but the end product is, however, genuine local Taiwan beef noodles, with added value much higher than the production of beef and wheat flour, without any problem of “laundering the label of origin” for the Mainland. What’s more, the World Trade Organization (WTO) has strict regulations regarding the "label of origin of products". At present, inside "free trade ports", there are a number of cases in which the Mainland introduced intermediate investments for shallow-level processing for re-export, and no illegalities have been reported that these cases used this opportunity to enter Taiwan. In the future, utilizing big data analysis and blockchain technology, determining the comings and goings of introducing parts and components from the Mainland will be even more crystal clear, without any possibility of "harming" Taiwan's agriculture. Additionally, the Council of Agriculture will also strictly guard the gates in reviewing and verifying all Mainland agricultural products utilizing this route to ensure that the interests of Taiwanese farmers will not be harmed.

Taiwan’s economic growth has stagnated in recent years, a very large part having to do with controls by stringent laws and regulations, especially in education, employment, finance, medical care, pharmaceuticals, logistics and professional services. If the laws and regulations are massively eased in Free Trade Special Zones, it would probably bring a large number of investments, both domestic and foreign, just like in Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea and other countries; after undergoing the easing of laws and regulations, various innovations in services, coupled with the infrastructure installations, such as bigger airports, will definitely be able to inject large quantities of running water into Taiwan’s long-stagnant economy. In recent years, foreign investments in South Korea have elevated from its size comparable to that of Taiwan to four times that of Taiwan, with Malaysia following in nearly equal volumes. Malaysia also recognizes medical licenses from Taiwan in its special zones, directly letting in Taiwan’s physicians to conduct international medical treatment, becoming another outlet for Taiwan’s physicians, whose professional income has been gradually declining. The problem of Taiwan’s brain drain has become increasingly serious, having much to do with the accelerated liberalization of our peripheral countries. The "Free Trade Special Zone" will indeed inject new running water and vitality into Taiwan's economy. If the Tsai government declines to do so, then let Han Kuo-yu do it!

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