However, recently the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) has been promoting the slogan "Invest in Taiwan." The Ministry is asking restless entrepreneurs to settle down and return home to "firm up their roots." What does this all indicate?
An autumn day, early morning. On the wide and straight West Coast Highway, thoughtful and eye-catching green signboards lead one to the Formosa Plastics Sixth Naphtha Cracker in Mailiao Rural Township, Yunlin County. You stand on a piece of level ground which seems to go endlessly in all directions. Eight kilometers long from north to south, and extending four kilometers on reclaimed land into the sea, this has been called the largest petrochemical industrial district in the world. Its area of more than 2600 hectares could hold 4-1/2 Hsinchu Science-Based Industrial Parks.
Now close your eyes and imagine yourself looking out over the foggy ocean. In less than three years, that stretch of land now occupied by dismal-looking aquaculture ponds will be transformed into Mailiao International Port. This will be the first-ever port in Taiwan built with private funding, as well as Taiwan's deepest harbor. The handling capacity after only the first phase of construction will be a full half of today's giant Kaohsiung Harbor (one of the busiest in the world).
A naphtha cracker dream
This time last year this was all just a vast expanse of water. Now there are steel girders and enormous smokestacks all over. There are two land reclaiming machines from Holland-NT$1 billion secret weapons in the battle to reclaim land-extending giant spider-web-like braces to block heavy winds. Positioned by satellite, they work nonstop night and day.
"To meet the schedule, work has been going at full speed. Currently, we can make between 2 and 2.5 hectares of land per day. For a 150-meter smokestack, we are working at a rate of over seven meters a day, so we can finish in less than 20 days. Within two years, we will have more than 30 factories up and running in the zone!" So says a proud Wu Shin-che, the on-site assistant vice-president of Formosa Plastics, his eyes shining.
What's the rush? The pipe for a tall reactor tower, laying by the side of the road, can provide the answer. On the outside, this tube looks brand new, but in fact it is an antique of sorts. It was already made nine years ago, when Formosa Plastics chairman Wang Yung-ching and Ilan County's then-chief Chen Ting-nan squared off to debate the question "Should Ilan accept the Sixth Naphtha Cracker?" It sat around in Litzu (in Ilan) for many years, and only now, after a journey by ship halfway around Taiwan, has it found a home.
Looking back over the turbulent past, and looking now to the already-determined future, after a hard-fought battle the investment plan for the Sixth Naphtha Cracker can finally be implemented, to the envy of many an entrepreneur. Yet, shadows still hang over the project. Look, for example, at one single problem-protests by fishermen. The aquaculture ponds have already been eliminated, and compensation was long ago paid. Little did anyone expect that just outside the dike of the factory zone illegal fish ponds would spring up. If in future there are problems with these fish and shrimp, inevitably Formosa Plastics will be blamed. And if drawing of underground water by the ponds creates a hazard in the industrial park, what recourse will Formosa Plastics have then?
Looking inward, investing in Taiwan can be a difficult road. Looking outward, the global investment blueprint is not in the hands of entrepreneurs themselves. In mid-August, when President Lee Teng-hui addressed the National Assembly, he clearly expressed his concern and dissatisfaction with the situation of high capital outflow along with low willingness to invest in Taiwan. In that address, he identified several companies by name as making "inappropriate" investments in mainland China, of which the plan by Formosa Plastics to build a power plant in Fujian was identified as one. Shortly thereafter, Formosa Plastics withdrew its application for approval for its mainland investment plan. Shortly thereafter, President Enterprises withdrew their proposal to construct a power plant in Wuhan.
Hot on the heels of these events, Minister Wang Chih-kang of the MOEA unveiled his "Invest in Taiwan" program. This was followed by four dinner conferences with business leaders. Investments that had originally been intended to go to mainland China or to Southeast Asia, as well as some still stuck in the deliberation stage, came on line one after another following Minister Wang's "moral persuasion." The total value of these plans is as high as NT$200 billion, marking a sudden boost in willingness to invest in Taiwan.
Outward investment: who decides?
Yet, going to the root of the problem, why-amidst constant calls for liberalization and internationalization these past few years and as companies have been gradually getting the hang of investing abroad-are there moves to "persuade" them to invest at home? Is it possible that overseas investment has reached a critical point at which it will hurt domestic economic development?
Looking at the numbers, "at present there is no such crisis," avers Chou Yan, director-general of the Industrial Development and Investment Center at the MOEA.
According to the balance sheets kept by the Central Bank, over the ten years from 1986 through 1995, total direct foreign investment (DFI) from Taiwan was US$28.7 billion. This amounts to only 7.3% of domestic fixed investment for the same period, and only 23% of the total surplus of money that flowed in and out of the country. Given the size and strength of Taiwan's economy, this amount is not large enough to hurt domestic development. Moreover, over the past couple of years, the number of domestic investment proposals in excess of NT$200 million has continuously risen, and the real rate of growth in investment in manufacturing has stayed in double digits. This proves that domestic investment has not been squeezed off just because of DFI.
Meanwhile, the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting, and Statistics says that between 1986 and 1990, DFI as a percentage of domestic fixed investment was 25.9%. In the last five years, this figure fell drastically to 10%, suggesting that not only is DFI not taking away increasing amounts of domestic investment, but is actually falling.
In reality, the peak period of closings of small and medium manufacturers and traditional industrial plants came between 1988 and 1990. In this brief period, firms that could and wanted to leave departed en masse. In those years, Taiwanese factories spread across Southeast Asia and mainland China. Investment in mainland China was second only to that from Hong Kong, and competed head to head with that from Japan in Southeast Asia (with Taiwanese investment being first or second at various times in Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, and Vietnam). However, this mass outflow has not repeated itself these past few years, and the most competitive firms remain in Taiwan.
In addition, according to an August 1996 MOEA survey, more than half of manufacturing firms that invested abroad have indeed "kept their roots in Taiwan." No matter how fast their expansion abroad, they have endeavored to keep the parent companies in Taiwan at at least their previous size. Most of those firms that have completely moved operations overseas and reduced investment in Taiwan have been small-scale and/or in labor-intensive industries. Not only are such companies not the type that the government wants to "Invest in Taiwan," their departure actually has opened up industrial land and labor for more efficient and productive industries.
Lose NT$100 million a year!
"At the present time, there are more advantages than disadvantages to DFI. It is more appropriate to describe DFI as 'an extension of national power' than as 'a decline of national power,'" explains Chou Yan. In particular, as Taiwan's economic structure reaches maturity, wages rise, and land costs skyrocket, it actually works to Taiwan's advantage to invest abroad. By jumping on the backs of the "new little tigers" of Southeast Asia and mainland China, Taiwanese firms that invest in those nations can share in the profits, thus gaining space and time for themselves to undertake industrial upgrading in Taiwan.
"Had they not invested abroad, many companies wouldn't have survived three years," says S.T. Day, who is chairman of the San Sun Hat and Cap Company and also vice-chairman of the National Association of Small and Medium Enterprises, ROC. San Sun, a case in point, has set up factories in the US and mainland China to produce hats under the firm's own label. By investing abroad, San Sun has been able to bypass quota limits and customs duties in host countries, and to provide direct service to customers (mainly in the USA). The firm has also lowered its costs of production. Investing abroad has proved to be necessary as a survival technique. Last year, at the invitation of the MOEA, Day even led several groups of potential investors on inspection tours of Latin America, with the dual goals of finding DFI opportunities for Taiwan firms while strengthening ties with Central American countries that have formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan.
Businessmen always want to know the bottom line. There is great room for DFI, and many options, so it often pays. But there are other considerations to weigh in the choice to stay home or go abroad. S.T. Day says that he if moved his factories from Tachia and Chingshui in Taiwan over to mainland China, he could make an additional NT$100 million (almost US$4 million) a year. But, however difficult operations may be, these two factories-the basis for the firm's rise to success-have remained just as large as ever, and still employ 600-700 people. "So long as they are picking up a paycheck from San Sun, I won't let them lose their jobs!" This sense of mission has kept Day's roots in Taiwan.
In trying to maintain their balance on the investment tightrope, the easiest place for businesses to fall off is mainland China, where investment is deeply complicated by political motives and feelings and is weighed down with "non-economic" considerations.
"Where do they stand?!"
"No matter how much room there is for development abroad, we always hope they will keep their roots at home," says Chou Yan. The "Look South" policy did not mean local businesses would pull up roots and go to Southeast Asia, and it is even less likely that they would ever move to the US or Europe (even if they establish facilities there). The only place that could really compete with Taiwan to attract away firms root-and-all has been the place with a similar language and culture-but which is locked into confrontation with Taiwan-mainland China. Since the end of last year, cross-Strait relations have been turbulent, with diplomatic wrestling and missile threats. The freeze has continued to the present, with no sign of openings for negotiations. In this course of this pushing and shoving, the 30,000 Taiwanese firms in mainland China and their hundreds of thousands of Taiwanese staff have been unnerved, and have not known whether to move forward or retreat.
"At the time of the missile tests, Taiwanese businessmen were urgently asking one another whether they should pull their capital out of mainland China. The parents of staff assigned to mainland China pleaded with companies to 'release' them to come back to Taiwan. I was in a difficult position, and all I could do was try to make them feel more at ease. I told them to be patient and wait and see, to wait until after the presidential elections were over, to see if things might not take a turn for the better," recalls C.Y. Kao, chairman of the Chinese National Federation of Industries, whose President Enterprises has 15 factories in mainland China. He explains, "If the staff had come back, the factories would have had to stop work at once, all orders would have been delayed, and tens of thousands of mainland workers would have been laid off-things weren't all that simple."
The vice general manager of a well-known Taiwanese machinery firm, this one with four factories in mainland China, says in a voice tinged with frustration: "We absolutely want to 'keep our roots in Taiwan.' But if the papers write that every day-you know they read the Taiwan papers every day over there-they will think: 'So you want to keep your roots in Taiwan. Then you are not sincere about really transferring technology.' Won't that create a lot of unnecessary trouble?"
Because he deeply understands the awkward situation of local businesses, after the presidential election C.Y. Kao traveled around on both sides of the Taiwan Strait to rebuild channels of communication. Moreover, at the end of August he led a huge group of Taiwanese businessmen on an inspection tour of mainland China, where they met with Jiang Zemin. This resulted in a storm over the question, "Which side are Taiwanese businessmen really on?" This indirectly led to the policy to "Invest in Taiwan." Kao, who has founded a private-sector "Invest in Taiwan Movement," looks back over the criticisms leveled against him of late and can only joke that he had best be "silent as the grave," adding "I don't dare to go to mainland China anytime soon!"
Taiwan vs. mainland China
In fact, the turbulence in cross-Strait relations over the past two years already put a damper on enthusiasm to invest in mainland China among Taiwanese businessmen, who are highly averse to risk. However, though there was negative growth in the number of investment plans for mainland China, the trend toward large scale, more technologically advanced projects has been worrying. Moreover, according to mainland Chinese statistics, in the past ten years estimated Taiwanese investment in mainland China has totaled US$20 billion, or 70% of all Taiwanese DFI. This figure shows a clear over- concentration of DFI.
The impact of this overconcentration is evident in cross-Strait trade figures. Though Taiwanese businessmen went to mainland China for the cheap labor, their raw materials, semi-finished products, machinery, and key parts (such as the shafts for motorcycle engines, or the leather needed for the shoe industry) all rely on uninterrupted supplies from Taiwan. Last year Taiwan showed a US$20.4 billion trade surplus with Hong Kong, 70% of which was for goods being transshipped into mainland China. Most of that, in turn, was accounted for by Taiwanese businessmen buying from themselves. Without the mainland, Taiwan's trade balance would be in the red, and the economic growth rate would plummet.
Unfortunately this concern is fast becoming reality. According to statistics released in October by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), currently 90% of Taiwanese firms in mainland China still get their raw materials and semi-finished products from Taiwan. But many mid- and upstream producers of such goods, hoping to serve customers more directly and save on shipping costs, have already set up shop in mainland China. This has led to nearly half of Taiwanese firms reducing their purchases from Taiwan. That is to say, Taiwanese firms are reducing their dependence on the home country. In the long run, Taiwanese firms in mainland China will become increasingly detached from Taiwan, which will cause a crisis for Taiwan's economy.
In the mainland, policies to increase economic ties with Taiwan-including "enticing Taiwanese businessmen with sweets" and "tying down Taiwan through the economy"-are already bearing fruit. On the Taiwan side, businessmen have been pressuring the government to expand the range of proposals for investment in mainland China that are exempt from the review process or are handled as fast-track "special cases." With one side pulling, and the other pushing, more and more are going, fewer and fewer staying. This has brought anxiety to Chou Yan: "Mainland China is actively wooing Taiwanese investors, and are not necessarily following economic principles in the process. If Taiwan does not adopt countermeasures, and continues loosening controls, this would be a very dangerous thing."
Examining things from this level, Tu Jenn-hwa, an associate professor in the College of Law at National Taiwan University and also one of the planners for the Asia-Pacific Regional Operations Center program at the Council for Economic Planning and Development, states that the "Invest in Taiwan" scheme is definitely a struggle against mainland China. Moreover, he opines, it is struggle Taiwan cannot lose, should not lose, and must not lose.
Amidst all this, previous government programs to encourage DFI in Southeast Asia or Central America have been caught in the fallout, and have been put on the back burner. Tu says that the downplaying of these old plans is "probably a way the government has to tell businessmen to ease their restless minds and focus on Taiwan." It's more of a hint rather than an outright prohibition.
Flood control
Nevertheless, capital is, like water, always flowing-to the place with the highest returns in the case of the former. Blocking it from flowing out does not by any means determine that it will flow back in.
"The 'Invest in Taiwan' program should be like the taming of the waters by the Sage Yu. It should be a process of channeling, not walling in," says Lawrence Liu, an attorney at Lee and Li who recently left the post of director of the Regional Operations Center program. Continuing the watery metaphor, Liu says that the only way to get capital to flow back into Taiwan is to loosen up restrictions and eliminate obstacles to turn Taiwan into a "basin" for "liquidity" to flow into.
In fact, Taiwan has deep enough resources in money, technology, human resources, and market to be a "basin." "The only thing that is needed is for the government to really act to permit improvement of the domestic investment environment. If they do, there isn't a business person around who wouldn't be interested in investing," says C.Y. Kao. This is suggested by the strong response of so many firms to the recent call by Minister of Economic Affairs Wang to invest in Taiwan, even to the point of "donating money" to Taiwan to do so. "These investment plans are not just for show. Everybody is sincerely hoping to pull them off; they just hope the government will help them do it in Taiwan," states Kao.
From surveys of willingness to invest made over the years, businessmen say that their investment decisions are most influenced by pragmatic considerations-profit, economic conditions, market demand, and the like. If Taiwan has a good market, then naturally people will be willing to invest to get a share of the pie. And the more that is invested, the better overall economic conditions will get, spurring consumption. This will create a bigger market and attract still more investment in a self-reinforcing cycle.
High-tech investment provides the best testimony to this effect. Asked about the "Invest in Taiwan" theme, Tung Lian-shen, director of the Division of Investment Services at the Hsinchu Science-Based Industrial Park, responds with a laugh that he doesn't need to hold dinners for businessmen; he just sits at his desk and the investment proposals pour in.
Last year, approved new investment in the HSBIP was NT$57.4 billion (about US$2 billion), while in the first half of this year the figure was NT$6.7 billion. It is estimated that total investment for the year should be NT$30 billion (while actual investment is often about twice that of the proposed figure).
"The fact that the approved investment for this year fell is due to a simple reason-the Park is only so big, and space has been filled. To projects that don't look like they will be exceptionally successful, or that seek a large chunk of land, we just say 'Sorry, we can't fit you in,'" explains Tung. However, though there is little room for new plants, there is always space for existing firms to expand or modernize facilities. The rate of growth in added investment has been startling this year. Last year the total figure was NT$66.5 billion; in the first half of this year alone, it exceeded NT$100 billion.
Information in a league of its own
The HSBIP cannot hold the burgeoning information industry. At the end of September, work formally began on an investment by Acer Computer to build a multi- functional intelligent park in Taoyuan. Total investment is expected to be NT$200 billion. When completed, the park will have factories, residences, cultural and educational facilities, and more. It amounts to a privately funded version of the HSBIP, writing a new page for the "Invest in Taiwan" program.
Why is the information industry special in Taiwan? In a sentence, this industry has already reached a certain scale in Taiwan so that it cannot be ignored in the world. Looking at the HSBIP for example, last year turnover in the integrated circuit (IC) industry was NT$150 billion, while that for computer peripherals was NT$120 billion.
"Within a small industrial park of only five hundred or so hectares there are limitless business opportunities, so profit-seekers in all sectors naturally come," points out Tung. Investors are attracted to all stages of the process, from design, raw materials, and testing at the upstream end to packaging of chips.
United Microelectronics, the second- largest local firm in the semiconductor field, has invested nearly NT$100 billion since the year before last to build four new factories to make eight-inch silicon wafers. Of these, Lien Tien #3 was finished and went into operation last year; this year it will be the turn of the Lien Cheng plant, and next year the Lien Jeui factory (both joint ventures with foreign firms). Though the fourth plant scheduled-Lien Chia (also a joint venture)-is currently on a "wait-and-see" status due to a downturn in semiconductor prices, "no matter what happens in the economy, this plant will inevitably be built," says H.J. Wu, senior vice-president of United Microelectronics.
G.J. Kleisterlee, a Netherlands national who has been the president and CEO of Philips Taiwan for half a year now, says: "Nobody in the world would deny that Taiwan is a good place for investment in the information industry." Currently Taiwan is the global operations headquarters for all Philips monitors and displays. At a celebration marking 30 years in Taiwan held this year, Philips announced that it will set up a "basic research center" in Taiwan. This is the first time Philips has ever set up an advanced research facility anywhere outside the US or Europe.
The attraction of an open field
In contrast to the growth potential in high-tech, traditional industries have to struggle just for stability. Responding to the Invest in Taiwan proposal, President Enterprises has come up with a total of nearly NT$30 billion in projects. However, of these less than NT$3 billion worth is related to President's traditional line of food processing.
C.Y. Kao explains: "The food market is already saturated, and there are few new categories for product development. Moreover, profits are too thin, with net pretax profits at only 3-5%." This is not to mention the fact that after Taiwan enters the World Trade Organization, many Taiwanese companies in Southeast Asia (including President itself) can export their products manufactured overseas back to Taiwan. Given these considerations, as Kao concludes, "there probably isn't much of a chance" for large investment in the food industry in Taiwan in the future.
Yet there is not necessarily harm in the fact that the food industry has little room to develop. Says Kao, "So long as there are new investment opportunities, large corporations like ours will definitely make Taiwan the first priority."
In recent years President has moved into a variety of new fields, including banking (the Grand Commercial Bank), insurance, and (in a joint venture with other firms) mobile telephony. They also plan to establish a huge shopping center in Kaohsiung. They are setting their sights on areas of investment newly liberalized by the government. Last year, for the first time, the government opened bidding for private firms to build and run power plants. However, President's bid was too high to win, and Kao felt regretful-which is one reason why he turned to mainland China for the chance to invest in a power plant.
"The only way the call to Invest in Taiwan can achieve results will be to eliminate unnecessary regulatory limits and open up new areas for investment," says Lawrence Liu. If only the government gives the people what they want, then willingness to invest will be very high in the private sector. Reviewing the experience of the past few years, he adds, he says "it has been very rare for any new field to be opened to private investment and then not have had the capital flow in." In fact, the situation is usually one in which private businessmen with idle capital are scurrying around looking in every nook and cranny for investment opportunities, until their enthusiasm breaks through the government-built obstacles. When you think about it, in fact, it has been the private sector-not the government-that has most wanted to "Invest in Taiwan."
The total investment for the Sixth Naphtha Cracker is NT$300 billion. It is a precedent of flowing capital breaking through barriers to investment. An upstream petrochemical industry, naphtha cracking was originally a monopoly of the state-run China Petroleum Corporation. Frustratingly, CPC failed to expand its production, so local firms had to rely on imports, greatly affecting Taiwan's enormous petrochemical industry. Formosa Plastics, CPC's competitor in midstream petrochemical products, was frustrated at CPC's inadequate efforts. After arguing with the government for over ten years, Formosa finally got permission to enter the naphtha cracker field.
There are similar precedents all over the place at the Mailiao site of the Sixth Naphtha Cracker. It marks the first ever private project for land reclamation, the first privately run power plant, the first privately developed international port. . . . If these formerly forbidden realms had not been opened up, there would have been serious obstacles to the comprehensiveness and autonomy of the Sixth Naphtha Cracker, thus lowering the efficiency of the investment.
There's no place like home. . . .
The most recent case in point is the recent passage by the Legislative Yuan of a new telecommunications law. In the past telecom was the province of the Ministry of Transportation and Communications. The law opened up the NT$600 billion mobile phone market to the private sector. The bidding for the eight licenses attracted 42 applicants, including virtually all large domestic corporations. The competition was intense. Applications-with the quantity of each company's plans and related documents being measured by the box-were accepted until the end of September. A low-ball estimate of the total investment in equipment and production is in the billions of NT dollars.
Private investment in telecommunications is only just getting started, and there are plenty of other fields that businessmen look to with ambition-transportation, development of tourist areas, infrastructure, privatization of state-run firms. . . .
"If the government could just be a bit more aggressive, and permit direct transport and communications links with mainland China, reducing barriers between us and the mainland and thus tying together the markets of Taiwan and mainland China, then I think there would be a dramatic increase in the number of local and foreign firms willing to invest in Taiwan," says Philips' Kleister-lee, stating a common desire in the business community.
You can clearly see that there could be many inviting investment opportunities in Taiwan. There has already been some liberation in the realm of thinking. If loosening up of laws and regulations can be hastened, and all levels of government cooperate, then investment vitality will be stimulated even further. Although businesses may lose some of their freedom to develop abroad, if they can come back home to a more broad and open economic playing field, it will be worth it for them. "Its a very hard thing to leave home to make your way in the world, and of course it would be more gratifying and pleasant to remain in Taiwan," says C.Y. Kao.
The future direction is clear: The "Invest in Taiwan" idea can only be the medicine Taiwan's economy needs-and not be a flash-in-the-pan idea-if we transcend the framework of "competing" for investment with other countries and mainland China and instead build a more vigorous and open investment environment in Taiwan.
p.84
A big ship enters the harbor. Will investment flow back into Taiwan? The "Invest in Taiwan" program offers government and business a chance to reassess and recharge.
p.86
In mid-September, a coalition organized by local elected officials to oppose the proposed Bayer plant protested at the Provincial Assembly. Bayer's investment, seen as an indicator of how well Taiwan is doing in moving toward its goal of becoming an "Asia-Pacific Regional Manufacturing Center," is shelved for the time being.
p.87
An NT$300 billion investment, and more than 2,600 hectares of reclaimed land-it's hard not to be impressed at the site of Formosa Plastics' Sixth Naphtha Cracker in Mailiao.
p.88
Taiwan's information industry is large and diverse, with considerable status in the world. The photo was taken at the first information exhibit held in Taiwan by the US firm Semi-Com; major companies from around the world came looking for buyers.
p.89
Looking to semiconductor business opportunities, United Microelectronics launched a plan to build four eight-inch silicon wafer plants at one time. Visitors to the display center can see a nearly impurity-free "clean room" via the wall screen.
From four to six to eight. The photo shows a glittering eight-inch silicon wafer, which has far greater capacity and is much more efficient than four- or six-inch varieties.
p.90
Philips Taiwan is the seventh largest corporation in the country. The Dutch parent firm has already made Taiwan the center of its Asia-Pacific manufacturing operations for many products, and also a center for R&D. The photo shows activities that were part of the company's celebration of its 30th anniversary in Taiwan. (photo by Hsueh Chi-kuang)
p.91
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications has begun liberalizing and privatizing telecommunications. The photo shows a signing ceremony in which local and Korean firms entered into a joint venture to bring digital information satellite services to Taiwan. (photo by Vincent Chang)
p.92
High-tech industries need less land, and generate less pollution. In today's Taiwan, where environmental concerns and land prices are both rising, high-tech is the best choice. The photo shows a new plant going up in the Hsinchu Science-Based Industrial Park.
Taiwan's information industry is large and diverse, with considerable status in the world. The photo was taken at the first information exhibit held in Taiwan by the US firm Semi-Com; major companies from around the world came looking for buyers.
Looking to semiconductor business opportunities, United Microelectronics launched a plan to build four eight-inch silicon wafer plants at one time. Visitors to the display center can see a nearly impurity-free "clean room" via the wall screen.
From four to six to eight. The photo shows a glittering eight-inch silicon wafer, which has far greater capacity and is much more efficient than four- or six-inch varieties.
Philips Taiwan is the seventh largest corporation in the country. The Dutch parent firm has already made Taiwan the center of its Asia-Pacific manufacturing operations for many products, and also a center for R&D. T he photo shows activities that were part of the company's celebration of its 30th anniversary in Taiwan. （photo by Hsueh Chi-kuang）
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications has begun liberalizing and privatizing telecommunications. The photo shows a signing ceremony in which local and Korean firms entered into a joint venture to bring digital information satellite services to Taiwan. （photo by Vincent Chang）
High-tech industries need less land, and generate less pollution. In today's Taiwan, where environmental concerns and land prices are both rising, high-tech is the best choice. The photo shows a new plant going up in the Hsinchu Science-Based Industrial Park.
