MISUNDERSTANDING:The DPP presidential candidate said the party was not against the petrochemical industry, but that it didn’t agree with the Kuokuang plant’s location
By Chris Wang / Staff Reporter
DPP presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday told Taiwanese business groups that a new Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administration would pursue further trade liberalization by adjusting Taiwan’s economic structure and seeking a cross-strait policy with an emphasis on stability if she were elected in January.
Her administration would play an active role in balancing economic development, environmental protection and labor rights without sacrificing the interests of employers and workers in a “rebalancing” global economy, Tsai told business leaders at a forum in Taipei.
The forum, titled “Dialogues with future Taiwan leaders,” invited Tsai and President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who is seeking re-election, to share their vision on Taiwan’s economy.
Ma attended the forum on Tuesday.
“You can rest assured that the DPP would launch full-scale trade negotiations [for free-trade -agreements] if it returned to power, but the negotiations would be conducted along with a series of industrial adjustments, the agricultural sector in particular, on our side,” she said, adding that it would be a “painstaking, but necessary” process.
Tsai laid out two directions for the future of Taiwan’s economy — the development of an internationally competitive, innovative knowledge-based economy and the development of a domestic economy with local characteristics, which would create quality jobs and satisfy the domestic and international markets.
Taiwan’s participation in regional economic integration is essential, Tsai said, adding: “We cannot just sit at home and do nothing.”
During the transformation period, Tsai said business leaders should be aware that “the world is different now” and adjustment is required before moving forward.
Tsai also pledged to relax regulations on the recruitment of international white-collar professionals so the shortage of high-level labor could be resolved.
The general employment problem could be solved if her economic policy is implemented, she said.
Most of the doubts that business leaders have expressed about the DPP, including the party’s pledge to establish a nuclear-free homeland and its objection to the establishment of the Kuokuang Petrochemical complex in -Changhua County, were the result of a misunderstanding, Tsai said.
Nuclear power safety has been called into question since the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant incident in Japan in March, she said, adding that Taiwan would be able to generate sufficient electricity even if it abandoned nuclear power.
With regards to the Kuokuang project, the party has questioned the proposed location, she said, but that does not mean the DPP does not care about the petrochemical industry.
Tsai also clarified her China policy, one of the most discussed topics among Taiwanese businesspeople, saying she was confident a “Taiwan consensus” would give Taiwan more confidence when it negotiates with China.
Chen Wu-shyon (陳武雄), president of the Chinese National Federation of Industries and chairman of Ho Tung Chemical Corp, concluded the forum by saying that Tsai’s briefing had “eased some of our doubts,” though he told reporters afterwards that he was still concerned about the DPP’s cross-strait policy.