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‘Free Economic Trade
Zones’ favor China, likely to increase dependence: lawmakers
By Chris Wang / Staff reporter
Pan-green lawmakers yesterday expressed concern over the government’s plan to
establish “Free Economic Pilot Zones” to promote trade liberalization, saying
that the zones could increase the nation’s economic dependence on China and hurt
Taiwan’s competitiveness.
Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Legislator Hsu Chung-hsin (許忠信) told a press
conference that the relaxation of regulations on investment and personnel in the
proposed zones appeared to be tailor-made for China, which has been eyeing a way
of annexing Taiwan — economic integration.
While the regulations in the zones apply to all foreign businesses, Hsu said
China is expected to be the top source of incoming products, investment and
workers, which would spell “double trouble” for Taiwan.
An influx of Chinese white-collar workers could squeeze job opportunities for
Taiwanese and opening up to Chinese agricultural products would raise food
safety concerns, Hsu said.
The unilateral opening up to foreign medical professionals — up to 20 percent of
the medical workforce in the pilot zones — and too many tax incentives offered
to foreign professionals and businesses were also points of concern, Hsu said.
In addition, the government, which is plagued by financial woes, was likely to
see huge tax losses, he said.
With Chinese investors allowed to be majority shareholders, Taiwan’s high-tech
know-how could end up in the hands of Chinese firms, he said.
“At the end of the day, Chinese investment in Taiwan represented more than just
economic interests, but also conveys Beijing’s political motives, which wants to
increase Taiwan’s economic dependency on China,” Hsu said.
In response, Lin Shu-chia (林旭佳), a section chief at the Council of Economic
Planning and Development, said that no blue-collar workers would be employed in
the zones, adding that legislation and regulation on tax incentives and
regulation easing have yet to be decided.
In addition, Lin said that the government would be vigilant for tax losses and
less-than-satisfactory investment performances.
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers Lee Ying-yuan (李應元) and Su Cheng-ching
(蘇震清) expressed concern at a separate press conference over the establishment of
a value-adding and marketing center for agricultural products in the zones,
saying that it could have a detrimental impact on Taiwanese agricultural
products.
The lawmakers proposed an agricultural economic zone that promotes and markets
home-grown products because under the current plan, cheaper Chinese agricultural
products were likely to be imported to the zones for processing and could
squeeze out domestically grown products.
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