Chinese people are the most numerous in the "rice eating cultures." Two other Little Dragons, also of Chinese ancestry--Hongkong and Singapore--are the greatest competitors to Taiwan's ambitions to become a "regional center." Compared to Hongkong's freewheeling spirit and Singapore's super-efficiency, not only is Taiwan weaker in internationalization, it has the considerations of policy toward mainland China, and thus is slightly behind in the running.
"In fact, Taiwan is not necessarily unable to compare with Hongkong and Singapore," says Kuo Wen-jeng, a research fellow at the Chunghwa Institute for Economic Research. He first does a historical analysis: Thirty or forty years ago, the reason so many foreign corporations chose these two locations as the sites of their Asia-Pacific headquarters is because at that time the global trading center was Europe and North America, and Asia carried little weight, so Hongkong and Singapore got first consideration because they were British colonies. But times have changed, and both of them are facing different bottlenecks. and if Taiwan can seize this opportunity to turn things around, it still has a chance to do so.
Taking Hongkong for example, the shadow of 1997 is always there, and "although foreign businesses are quite optimistic about Hongkong's future, they don't want to 'put all their eggs in one basket,'" says John Chandler, managing director of ICI Taiwan, a British firm. Moreover, people in Hongkong, who speak in Cantonese and English and whose way of doing things is quite westernized, have a gulf with people in the mainland. This is the disadvantage of entering the mainland through Hongkong in the future.
As for Singapore, "perhaps it is suitable for being a transshipment point for Southeast Asia or mainland China," notes Kuo Wen-jeng, but for the whole Asia-Pacific region, Singapore is "a bit too far to the southeast," with a somewhat weaker geographic position. And, like Hongkong, it is just too small in scale, Mandarin Chinese is not dominant, and their way of doing things is very westernized, which are all innate obstacles.
[Picture Caption]
(photo by Huang Li-li)
The success of Plan ROC also depends on the efficiency of financial services. Will new banks bring a new energy? （photo by Diago Chiu）
Exchanges between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait are increasingly open, a humanitarian development also looked at favorably by business. The photo shows leading scientists from mainland China visiting Taiwan. （photo by Yang Hui-wen）
Speeding completion of infrastructure is the only way to ensure the success of ambitious development plans. （photo by Yu Pi-juo）
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