【澳大利亚人报】Chaiwan love affair causes envy

nbnbren

Chaiwan love affair causes envy
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/business/story/0,28124,25667710-5018066,00.html

Michael Sainsbury June 22，2009

IN Hollywood there was Bennifer, then Brangelina. Now Asia has Chaiwan.

The pace at which economic relations have developed over the past 13 months between the People's Republic of China and the democratic country -- or errant province -- that sits just 150km off its coast has been bewildering.

China may have its hand hovering above the panic button over sagging foreign investment, but the increasingly bright light of Taiwan illustrates how fast the country's central government can move when it wants something. And this is a story that is working both ways.

For the Chinese, money and politics are forever entwined, and the economic imperatives for a deal on both sides are higher than ever. While many Taiwanese have understandable reservations about the speed of change and China's potential economic hegemony, the truth is most now favour a closer relationship.

The warming of relations between China and Taiwan came with the return to power last May of the island state's founding party, the Kuomintang (led by Ma Ying-jeou), after eight years out of office. That was an experience that sobered up both the KMT and mainland China. During the eight-year administration of Chen Shui-bian, a growing push for independence led to a rapid escalation of military tensions.

All that now seems like a bad dream, with direct flights, shipping and postal services allowed for the first time in 60 years. Those links will save countless millions of yuan in terms of efficiency for both sides, particularly Taiwanese business folk who have largely been forced to deal via Hong Kong. And there are almost daily announcements on new forms of co-operation.

Ma's win could not have come at a better time for both sides, economically speaking. While the world has been in economic crisis since mid-2007, its full horror was not unleashed untillast year.

Taiwan's export-dependent economy is in recession, unemployment is rising and it is desperate for Chinese investment. There is no official economic pact -- a la Hong Kong -- and there is unlikely to be until next year.

Next week Taiwan's government will unveil details of 64 manufacturing, 25 service and 11 infrastructure sectors for mainland investors. It will introduce regulations about individual investment and the establishment of corporate branch or representative offices.

Companies with more than 30 per cent of shares owned by mainland investors will be classified as mainland enterprises.

It's not a free-for-all, at least not yet. Mainland investment will not be allowed in areas such as port facilities aiding vessel entry and exit, sea walls, passenger customs and restricted airport areas.

But since the starter's gun effectively went off last year, the race is already being run. This week, shareholders in Taiwan's Far EasTone approved a $US529 million ($651m) investment by the mainland's China Mobile for a 12 per cent stake in the group -- the first such deal for a listed Taiwanese company. Now it needs to get past regulators.

"China Mobile reiterates that when this investment is approved, after China Mobile becomes a Far EasTone stakeholder, we won't participate in the company's daily business administration, and won't pursue a controlling interest," China Mobile says.

Indeed, what it and other Chinese companies investing offshore want is access to expertise and experience, and with its language and cultural ties, Taiwan is the perfect testbed.

The mobiles deal is a microcosm of deals to come and will prove a major early test of the strength of the new relationship. Taiwan has signalled that telecoms may be a no-go area, as it is in China, and should demand a quid pro quo in return for allowing the deal. This would give it at least some access to China's nascent third-generation mobiles market with more than 600 million users and more than $US54 billion being spent on three new networks. Australia's Telstra, by the way, which has a healthy internet business in China, would also love to have access to the more traditional side of the business.

Taiwan has been a major investor in China and has been at the forefront of outsourcing electronic manufacturing to the cheaper labour on the other side of the strait. Its brands are on the up, with computer makers ACer and Asus making serious inroads into global information technology markets. The last thing China wants is to lose these factories.

China is desperate to mimic the strategies of Taiwan, Japan and South Korea, which all successfully moved from being manufacturers and assemblers of parts to innovators and creators of new products, technologies and brands. China hopes that tapping into Taiwan's companies will accelerate this evolution.

The Taiwanese will be wary of China's poor (but improving) record on intellectual property rights.

Tens of thousands of South Koreans have fled China, taking their businesses and investment home as the country has been shattered by the global financial crisis, sending its currency plunging.

But South Koreans have had a strong influence on Chinese technology and youth culture, and they are fearful of the blooming love affair between the two Chinas. It is they who christened the relationship Chaiwan.

Australian Trade Minister Simon Crean can only watch the emergence of Chaiwan with envy as he struggles to break the deadlock on a free trade deal with China. But Crean has become more realistic in recent months and is now pursing a sector-based, two-pronged strategy with China that will probably yield better results. He should note that technology is top of their list.

China has much to learn from Taiwan, where a young democracy has helped to create independent institutions and a free press -- the things China needs if it is to sustain economic growth, weed out corruption and improve living standards.

It can also learn from Australia, which has roughly the same population as Taiwan and is also a small and relatively non-threatening developed country.

Last week's decision by the China Investment Corporation sovereign wealth fund to invest in the Goodman Group and tap into its expertise, along with the Chinese government's admission that it needs more foreign investment, should provide leverage if Australia's diplomats are clever and its politicians creative.

sainsburychina@gmail.com

nbnbren

1# nbnbren

nbnbren

认领

nbnbren

http://bbs.m4.cn/forum.php?mod=v ... d=176192&extra=

好了