June 12, 2010. The amount of inward investment by Taiwanese businesses in China totaled NT$22.1 billion (US$6.83 million) in the first five months of this year, achieving over 50 percent of this year’s target of NT$38 billion, a Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) official said Saturday.
According to Ling Chia-yuh, director-general of the Department of Investment Services under the MOEA, investment from China-based Taiwanese businesses is expected to exceed NT$40 billion by the end of this year, compared to NT$36.2 billion last year.
According to Ling, some Taiwanese businessmen in China are considering increasing their production lines in Taiwan to meet market demand. Ling said that costs for these businessmen would be lower than the costs of getting supplies for coastal cities from inland Chinese provinces. He did not elaborate.
Ling also said that Taiwan-based instant noodle maker Master Kong — one of the biggest Taiwanese companies operating in China — might increase its production lines in Taiwan after a proposed cross- Taiwan Strait economic cooperation framework agreement is signed.
Since the Taiwan-based Foxconn Technology Group decided to sharply increase the wages of its factory workers in China, several China-based Taiwanese businesses have expressed interest in moving their investment back to Taiwan, according to MOEA officials.
The officials added, however, that they have received a lot of calls asking about land acquisition, financing, taxation and R&D in Taiwan.
“Many Taiwanese businessmen have left Taiwan over the last decade, so they do not really know about the initiatives offered by the government, ” Ling said.
Meanwhile, Lien Ching-chang, deputy director of the Industrial Development Bureau under the MOEA, said his bureau holds meetings regularly to discuss how to promote China-based Taiwanese businessmen’s investments in Taiwan.
He said that due to a lack of space in the country’s industrial parks to accommodate any returning Taiwanese businessmen, the ministry could help appropriate land from the state-run Taiwan Sugar Corp, which owns a lot of land, to provide factory space for such investment projects.
