Taipei, June 12 (CNA) The amount of inward investment byTaiwanese businesses in China totaled NT$22.1 billion (US$6.83million) in the first five months of this year, achieving over 50percent of this year's target of NT$38 billion, a Ministry ofEconomic Affairs (MOEA) official said Saturday.
According to Ling Chia-yuh, director-general of the Department ofInvestment Services under the MOEA, investment from China-basedTaiwanese businesses is expected to exceed NT$40 billion by the endof this year, compared to NT$36.2 billion last year.
According to Ling, some Taiwanese businessmen in China areconsidering increasing their production lines in Taiwan to meetmarket demand. Ling said that costs for these businessmen would belower than the costs of getting supplies for coastal cities frominland 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 -- mightincrease 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 tosharply increase the wages of its factory workers in China, severalChina-based Taiwanese businesses have expressed interest in movingtheir investment back to Taiwan, according to MOEA officials.
The officials added, however, that they have received a lot ofcalls asking about land acquisition, financing, taxation and R&D inTaiwan.
"Many Taiwanese businessmen have left Taiwan over the lastdecade, so they do not really know about the initiatives offered bythe government, " Ling said.
Meanwhile, Lien Ching-chang, deputy director of the IndustrialDevelopment Bureau under the MOEA, said his bureau holds meetingsregularly to discuss how to promote China-based Taiwanesebusinessmen's investments in Taiwan.
He said that due to a lack of space in the country's industrialparks to accommodate any returning Taiwanese businessmen, theministry could help appropriate land from the state-run Taiwan SugarCorp., which owns a lot of land, to provide factory space for suchinvestment projects.
(By Lin Shu-yuan, Lin Hui-chun and Fanny Liu)
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