Su denies reports of plans to lift China cap

Premier Su Tseng-chang denied reports that he promised to lift the cap on China-bound investments, adding that the government would maintain its hard-line position on businesses trying to invest legally in projects in China. He vowed that the current ceiling on cross-strait investments would stay in place.

Su made the comment on an unofficial meeting with journalists at the Executive Yuan Aug. 3. In a 90-minute discussion, Su emphasized that he had stated clearly at the close of the Conference on Sustaining Taiwan's Economic Development, an economic summit sponsored by the government, that the Cabinet would do its best to implement all of 516 agreements and continue dialogue on issues that remained unresolved, classified as "other opinions."

He said that the intention of the government to hold the conference and to invite people from all social circles, including business, labor, environmentalists and social welfare groups, to take part was to provide their views in an entirely open manner. "We did not evade any controversial or difficult issues," he said.

In Su's recollection, he had not said whether or not the government would lift the current 40-percent cap, since the proposal to do so was not agreed upon by all parties at the conference.

Su also pointed out that Taiwan has more money invested in the People's Republic of China than any other country on Earth, with the PRC receiving 71 percent of Taiwan's foreign direct investment in 2005. "It would be abnormal to have 71 percent of foreign investment concentrated in any one country, even if it was the United States or Britain, much less China, which is the country most hostile to us," the premier said.

Cheng Wen-tsang, cabinet spokesman and head of the Government Information Office, which publishes this newspaper, said Aug. 2 that the government presently "has no plans to remove" the long-standing restriction on China-bound investments by listed companies to a maximum of 40 percent of net worth in accordance with the Statute Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area. Quoting Su's reference to the 71 percent of Taiwan's offshore investments going to China last year, Cheng characterized the nation's investment in China as "not too little but too much," adding that Taiwan "should not put all its eggs in one basket."

Cheng added that the question of sustaining Taiwan's economic development does not merely involve economic issues. The government must also take into account the well-being of citizens and Taiwan's sovereignty, security and environmental protection, as well as numerous other issues.