Chinese Taipei's Free Trade Progress Assessed Information Technology use is a Leading Example for other Economies

An independent report has cited Chinese Taipei's policies for the use of information technology to facilitate trade as being amongst the best in the APEC Region.

The report on Chinese Taipei's progress towards meeting it's APEC Free Trade and Investment Goals also notes impressive gains in cleaning up and restructuring the financial industry and improvements in intellectual property protection.

The observations were made as part of an independent review of Chinese Taipei's Individual Action Plan (IAP). The IAPs serve as a roadmap for APEC economies to achieve the Bogor Goals of free and open trade and investment in the APEC region.

The author of the report, Associate Professor Simon SC Tay, from the National University of Singapore praised efforts by Chinese Taipei to utilize information technology to improve trading efficiencies and increase transparency.

"Indeed, there are areas in which the policies and practices of Chinese Taipei are among the best in APEC," Associate Professor Tay said in the report.

"These include the efforts that Chinese Taipei has made to use information technology to facilitate trade and economic activity. The transparency of trade rules has increased, as has efficiency in import and export clearance procedures. Transaction costs have been reduced, especially for the smaller and medium sized companies.

"In these and some other notable areas, there may be experiences and practices that would be helpful to be shared with other APEC members. Indeed, authorities in Chinese Taipei have evinced a willingness to share such experiences and know-how with other APEC Member Economies, especially the developing ones."

"Thus situated, Chinese Taipei's experiences in economic liberalization may be of particular interest to APEC member economies. Some assistance and example to the developing countries may be drawn for their next steps forward, as they consider policy reform towards the APEC Bogor goals."

Associate Professor Tay also highlighted Chinese Taipei's record on intellectual property protection and the benefit this focus has on building economic capacity.

"Intellectual property protection has traditionally been a point of contention and criticism of domestic policy and enforcement in Chinese Taipei," Associate Professor Tay said.

"However, intellectual property is increasingly recognized as an important foundation for Chinese Taipei as it builds a knowledge-based economy and society.

"It is also a crucial factor in attracting investment in key business sectors. While legislation and enforcement have been improving, it is also important to deter infringement by handing down meaningful punishments to IP violators. In addition, Chinese Taipei needs to cultivate greater public awareness of the link between IP protection and domestic economic strength needs attention. Piracy, patent violations, counterfeit materials and illegal imports of patented products all remain problems to be further addressed."

Associate Professor Tay also commented on Chinese Taipei's reforms in the financial industry and noted areas of possible further improvement.
"Chinese Taipei has made impressive gains in cleaning up and restructuring the financial industry, including decreasing the non-performing loan ratio of domestic banks," Professor Tay said.

"Several priorities need continued policy attention. These include more liberalized capital controls, reformed bankruptcy and reorganization laws, continued clean-up of non-performing loans, refunding of the Financial Restructuring Fund, and consolidation of policy-making and regulatory functions under the Ministry of Finance.

Summaries of each of the thirteen areas of assessment are now available on the APEC website. The full report will also be available on the APEC website once it has been presented to APEC Senior Officials in Santiago, Chile, on October 4.

Two APEC Member Economies, Chinese Taipei and Singapore, are having their IAPs' reviewed at the current round of APEC meetings in Chile. This process involves a presentation by the Independent Expert to a meeting of Member Economies followed by an opportunity for these economies to question the economy under review on the details of their IAP. The review of Chinese Taipei's IAP took place in Santiago today.