Gov't to Open Up 11 Infrastructural Items to Chinese Investors

Taipei, May 4, 2009 (CENS)--Chinese investors will be able to invest in 11 items of infrastructural facilities, with Taoyuan International Air City, or Aerotropolis, expected to be a major magnet for Chinese investment capital.

The 11 items include airport facilities, harbor facilities, and tourist-sight accommodation facilities and restaurants. They will be included in the list of permitted investment items for Chinese investors, to be publicized by the Executive Yuan (the Cabinet) by the end of May.

Fan Liang-yu, director of the Public Construction Commission (PCC), under the Executive Yuan, pointed out that allowance for Chinese investors to engage in infrastructural facilities can alleviate the government's financial burden, as its outstanding debt has approached the legal ceiling.

The opening up of tourist-sight facilities to Chinese investors will contribute to the solicitation of Chinese tourists, according to Fan, who pointed out that the existing facilities have been overstrained by the influx of Chinese tourists in recent months.

In response to Chinese investors' strong interest in the 12 i-Taiwan (Love Taiwan) projects, the government has decided to open up some related projects to them. They include airport facilities, such as warehousing, product processing, transit system, transit hotel, international convention center, exhibition hall, and parking lot; harbor facilities, such as warehousing, cargo loading and unloading facilities, dock; and tourist-sight facilities, such as accommodation facilities, transit facilities, and restaurants.

Chinese investors, though, will have to compete against foreign and local investors; local investors will still enjoy the advantage of familiarity with local law and regulations, said Fan.

The list of permitted investment items is smaller than the original proposal of PCC, due to the reservation of the Mainland Affairs Council and the Ministry of Transportation and Communications. All of the permitted items don't involve national security, according to Fan.

The permitted items account for 14% of all available items. In addition to infrastructural items, the list will also include 63 items of the manufacturing industry, 30% of the industry's total, and 24 service items, 21% of the total, adding up to 98.