Taiwan investors relocating to RP – MECO

MANILA – Following the resolution of the Taiwan diplomatic row with the Philippines, Taiwanese businessmen, who have been turned off by the stringent labor requirements in China, are seriously considering relocating here their manufacturing facilities from mainland China, the Manila Economic Cultural Office (MECO) said.

MECO chairman Amadeo R. Perez Jr. told reporters Taiwanese businesses engaged in industrial plastics manufacturing with estimated investments of at least $120 million are considering of relocating their factories from China to Subic and Clark Freeport zones for their export-oriented investments.

Perez said that these Taiwanese firms have existing operations in China but engaged in industrial plastics manufacturing and one bed frame and mattresses manufacturer have existing plants in China but are eager to get out of there because of some stringent labor requirements.

Perez said that five four plastics products manufacturers have visited Subic and Clark earlier and one is coming over to visit Batangas and Clark. Another company engaged in bed frames and mattresses production has found a suitable warehouse in Clark that can be converted for his business.

“One project alone can command at least $20 million in investments,” Perez said. For the six projects that would translate to an estimated $120 million worth of prospective investments.

According to Perez, several Taiwanese investors in the mainland have been getting turned off by policy changes in the labor sector.

“Some of the Taiwanese have already gone to Vietnam and Indonesia as these countries are not very choosy because of their high unemployment situation,” he said.

The bed frame and mattresses manufacturer is exporting its products to the EU, Asia and the US while the plastics products manufacturers are producing industrial products for packaging applications and are exporting all over the world.

“They came here to see prospective site. Their requirement is proximity of their operation to international seaport and airport,” he said. Thus, MECO has suggested to the Taiwanese businessmen to consider Subic, Clark, Batangas and Cebu for these areas have access to international ports.

Following the successful resolution of the bilateral issue early this year, Perez said that MECO is implementing a major campaign to attract more Taiwanese investors into the country.

“Our only problem is our high cost of electricity,” Perez said noting that Vietnam and Indonesia could beat the Philippines on this single factor alone. (BCM, Manila Bulletin)

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Taiwanese investors keen on keeping Subic — SBMA

There is no mass pull-out of Taiwanese firms in Subic because most of them are content with doing business here, the Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) assured Thursday.

“We strongly believe that Taiwanese businessmen here are complacent with the working conditions.

They have also given us the assurance that they are not prepared to relocate to China,” SBMA Administrator Armand Arreza said.

Arreza issued the statement to dispute a prediction made by an official of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) that Taiwanese firms based in Subic are preparing to leave this premier freeport.

Recently, NEDA Director General Augusto Santos said most of the Taiwanese investors that are located inside the Subic Bay Freeport will relocate to China once Taiwan and China signs a proposed framework trade deal.

The imminent deal, Santos added, would leave thousands of Filipinos working inside the Subic Bay Freeport Zone unemployed.

But Subic Bay Development Management Corp. (SBDMC) President Jeff Lin also refuted the claim, asying that Subic Freeport is one of the most sought-after economic zones in the Asian market for Taiwanese. (Jonas Reyes, Manila Bulletin)

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RP to seek inclusion of Subic-Clark-Kaohsiung corridor in Taiwan-China free-trade area

TAIPEI—Not wanting to be left behind, the Philippines will be seeking to gain a ticket to the proposed Taiwan-China Economic Cooperation and Framework Agreement (Ecfa) by asking Taipei to include the Subic-Clark-Kaohsiung economic corridor in the negotiations for the planned free-trade area (FTA).

Ambassador Antonio Basilio, resident representative of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office (Meco) here, said there are now concerns that most of the Taiwanese investments that are supposed to go to the Philippines will just again be diverted to China with the forging of the Ecfa.

This, he said, makes it more pressing for Meco to ask the Taiwanese government to consider expanding the Subic-Clark-Kaohsiung economic corridor to include some southern provinces of Mainland China and have it incorporated in the proposed Taiwan-China FTA.

“So this will be our assurance. We will probably formalize this proposal in the next JEC [Joint Economic Conference] meeting [of the Philippines and Taiwan],” Basilio told the BusinessMirror.

The next JEC, which serves as the venue for the Philippines and Taiwan in coming up with new bilateral cooperation programs, is scheduled early next year.

Taiwan and China, on the other hand, are scheduled to negotiate the terms of the Ecfa, which is the initial step in the opening up of trade between the Chinese nations, in the first half of 2010.

Basilio said all the three countries will benefit from the expanded economic corridor because they will be able to complement each other in manufacturing through seamless production lines in their respective economic zones, aside from according all parties larger markets.

He said with the addition of the Philippines in the picture, the products to be produced by China and Taiwan will gain access to the 600-million Asean market. They will also be able to gain benefit from the skilled work force of the Philippines, particularly in the higher end of the value chain.

The Philippines, meanwhile, will be able to get some of the investments.

He said aside from the fears of diversion of Taiwanese investments to China, the Philippines will also lose out more Taiwanese tourists to the Mainland with the Ecfa. “In tourism, we are feeling it now,” he said.

To prevent this from happening, Basilio said the Philippines will have to sell the idea of an expanded version of the economic corridor involving southern China.

The Philippines and Taiwan are now in the final stages of the completion of the requirements in the Subic-Clark-Kaohsiung economic corridor, which is supposed to funnel Taiwanese investments to the economic zones of Subic and Clark, where they will enjoy preferential treatment. (Max V. de Leon, Business Mirror)

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