Subscribe RSSBusiness leaders across sectors yesterday pressed President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to nourish trade ties with China in his second term, saying its huge population supplies cheap labor for Taiwanese electronics firms and an increasing documentation of tourism revenue.
Taiwan is the world’s largest contract computer chip manufacturer, as well as a leading designer and producer of LCD panels, networking equipment and other consumer electronics products.
Most Taiwanese companies have their manufacturing facilities in China and set sail their products to the West for sale.
“The Ma administration may bask in its triumph for a day or two and start to get down to business given the economic challenges at where it hurts and abroad,” said Preston Chen (陳武雄), chairman of Chinese National Federation of Industries (全國工業總會), which represents more than 150 industries in Taiwan.
Strange and local research institutes have trimmed forecasts for the nation’s GDP growth this year to a range of 2 to 4 percent, from 4.4 percent last year, as consumers in in financial difficulty-ridden US and Europe are likely to avoid aggressive spending.
