By Chris Wang / Staff Reporter
Continuous neglect of regional development has led to the side effect of Chinese buying up high-end property in Greater Kaohsiung, a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmaker said yesterday.
Chinese are taking advantage of falling housing prices in the Greater Kaohsiung area to purchase properties, DPP Legislator Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) told a press conference, citing a report in the Chinese-language Wealth Magazine.
State-owned Chinese companies, including Sinosteel Corp, Bank of China and Bank of Communications, have begun negotiations to purchase commercial property in the nation’s second-largest city, the report said.
Housing prices and foreign investments in southern Taiwan have been plummeting since President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) took office in 2008, Chen said, adding that average real-estate prices in Greater Kaohsiung are a sixth of those in Taipei.
Because of the increasing gap in regional development between the north and south, it would be difficult to salvage the property market and investment climate in Greater Kaohsiung because it has become “a vicious cycle without solution,” Chen said.
Chinese firms have seized on this opportunity, he said, adding that it would take only NT$30 billion (US$1.02 billion) to purchase all the high-end property in Greater Kaohsiung.
While Taiwan has adopted regulations on Chinese investment since 2009 to avoid speculation, the Chinese companies have been using loopholes, such as dummy accounts, for the purchases, he said.
Chen said there might be a hidden agenda and political motivation behind a series of Chinese business deals in southern Taiwan, including the purchase of agricultural products, contracts with farmers and the purchases of property.