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Airport plan may be Chinese haven,
TSU says
By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
Taiwan Solidarity Union
Legislator Hsu Chung-hsin raises questions during a press conference in Taipei
yesterday over whether the government plans to attract Chinese investment and
labor for the Taoyuan Aerotropolis development project at Taiwan Taoyuan
International Airport.
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
The NT$463 billion (US$157.8 billion)
Taoyuan Aerotropolis, one of the government’s flagship projects to revitalize
the economy, could become a haven for Chinese capital and labor, Taiwan
Solidarity Union (TSU) Legislator Hsu Chung-hsin (許忠信) said yesterday.
Hsu suspects that the government is ready to bring in Chinese white-collar
workers and investment to the planned “free-trade economic zone” because it has
been tight-lipped about how it will relax personnel and investment regulations
for the zone.
Supported by the Taoyuan County and the central government, the project is a
6,150 hectare urban planning development at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport
that involves expanding existing airport terminals and establishing an aerospace
industrial park. Also planned are special zones for cargo, passenger and
logistics services, and the project’s ultimate goal is to become a global
logistic hub in East Asia.
The government estimates that the project, scheduled to be completed by 2030,
will bring in about NT$2.3 trillion in economic benefits and NT$84 billion in
annual tax revenues, as well as creating 260,000 jobs.
Hsu said that if President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration intends to have
China be the primary source of investment and labor for the free-trade zone, it
was taking a serious risk.
Beijing has been actively engaged in infrastructure projects, such as ports,
airports and railways, in Eastern Europe and Italy in recent years, bringing in
investments, technicians and their families and eventually transforming those
areas into “China towns,” Hsu said.
Putting the China factor aside, Hsu said the project’s funding would raise
concerns despite claims by Minister of Transportation and Communications Mao
Chih-kuo (毛治國) that the project would not require money from the central
government.
Hsu said that according to the National Audit Office, the national debt now
exceeds NT$5.5 trillion.
Meanwhile, Mao said he has moved land management officials from the National
Expressway Engineering Bureau, Railway Reconstruction Bureau and the Bureau of
High Speed Rail under the authority of the Civil Aeronautic Administration (CAA),
because the CAA will need to have sufficient personnel to handle the development
of the 3,200 hectare plot of land needed for the Taoyaun International Airport
Zone, one of the eight zones comprising the Taoyuan Aerotropolis.
“The most important thing right now is that our land expropriation plan must be
approved by Ministry of the Interior,” Ma said, adding that the transport
ministry had secured the full support of the ministry.
Additional reporting by Shelley Shan and CNA
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