TAIWAN BUSINESS TELLS AIT FOCUS IS ON CHINA MARKET

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TAIPEI 001370 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE PASS USTR, STATE FOR EAP/TC,USTR FOR STRATFORD AND ALTBACH, TREASURY FOR OASIA/LMOGHTADER E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECIN ECON ENIV ETRD PREL TW SUBJECT: TAIWAN BUSINESS TELLS AIT FOCUS IS ON CHINA MARKET ¶1. (SBU) Summary: AIT Director Young hosted AIT Chairman Burghardt and USTR del to lunch on June 14 with Taiwan business representatives. As in the past, the businesses emphasized their need to be active in the China market in order to be globally competitive. They are concerned about the prospects for creating jobs in Taiwan and a growing wealth gap. They urged the authorities to pay more attention to developing strong services industries. The hi-tech businesses do not anticipate any impact on them from the U.S.-Korean FTA. The businessmen all complained about Chinese companies unilaterally altering the terms of existing contracts. End Summary. ¶2. (U) AIT Director Young hosted a lunch in honor of AIT Chairman Raymond Burghardt on June 14. The visiting USTR delegation consisting of Timothy Stratford, Assistant USTR and Eric Altbach, Deputy Assistant USTR also attended. The Taiwan guest list of prominent businessmen consisted of Morris Chang, Chairman of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC); Nelson Chang, Vice Chairman, Chia Hsin Cement & Chairman of International Community Radio Taipei (ICRT); Arthur Chiao, Chairman, Winbond Electronics & Chairman, Taiwan Electrical and Electronics Manufacturers Association (TEEMA); Frank Huang, Chairman, Powerchip Semiconductor Group & Chairman, Taiwan Semiconductor Industry Association (TSIA); Jason Lin, Chief Executive Officer of Uni-President Group; and Daniel Tsai; Chairman and Co-CEO, Fubon Financial Holding Co. Also attending on the AIT side were Daniel Moore, Chief, Economic Section; and Greg Wong; Chief, Commercial Section. Taiwan Firms Focused on China -------------- ¶3. (SBU) All of the Taiwan firms represented at the lunch have a large and growing interest in the China market. Morris Chang said China's growth rate is very attractive and is what makes it necessary for his company to serve the market from a small manufacturing presence within China rather than strictly from offshore platforms. He reiterated his previous public calls for Taiwan to open up to business with China. Chang noted that his investment in China is small relative to TSMC's overall assets, but it isn't a market that can be ignored. Frank Huang of Powerchip, also a semiconductor manufacturer like TSMC, observed that though he has a license to set up a semiconductor wafer fab in China, he is not moving ahead with that just yet. However, he is making certain optical devices in China. Chang, Huang and Winbond's Arthur Chiao (Winbond is also involved in semiconductor manufacturing) all noted that Taiwan restrictions on technology transfers to China sharply limit what they can do in China. ¶4. (SBU) Chang noted that outside of his hi-tech business and Daniel Tsai's banking business, other Taiwan industries had little in the way of restrictions on relocating to China. He suggested that Taiwan industries interested in relocating to Mainland China had already done so. Fubon Chairman Tsai confirmed that his banking business is completely shut out of China due to Taiwan regulations and acknowledged that this restriction is a major impediment to growing his banking business and developing regional expertise and capability. (Note: Fubon bought a Hong Kong Bank several years ago and uses it both to train its staff in international banking operations and to provide some banking services in China. End Note.) ¶5. (SBU) Jason Lin said that Uni-President, the second-largest seller of instant noodles in China, along with a variety of other food products, views China as a very large and diverse market. It must be viewed as at least six separate markets, he said, because of the wide-ranging differences in tastes in different areas. For example, the people in Chongqing have very different preferences for their noodles than do the people in Shanghai. He emphasized that the China market is not "one-size fits all." (Note: Uni-President's business faces little in the way of TAIPEI 00001370 002 OF 002 restrictions on the Mainland, other than the 40% investment cap imposed by Taiwan. End Note.) ¶6. (SBU) Winbond's Chiao noted that in addition to semiconductors, he also runs a steel plant, making mostly stainless and other specialty steel, and a cable and wire manufacturing businesses. He said that currently the semiconductor business is doing fine, but that the steel side of his interests is really growing very rapidly. He attributed most of this rapid growth to demand in China for infrastructure projects. He said he is supplying a great deal of cable for bridge construction and wire for electricity lines. Don't Like Some Chinese Practices -------------- ¶7. (SBU) There was a general discussion on the topic that Chinese companies unilaterally alter the terms of contracts. AUSTR Stratford noted the issue is of concern to U.S. firms and the entire table recounted their own version of the issue. Huang suggested that this kind of practice by Chinese firms was a factor in his reluctance to put a wafer-fab facility in China. Another example cited was a U.S. marketer of television sets having completely shifted production away from joint ventures and Chinese firms to using Taiwan firms that completely manage the entire manufacturing and distribution process. The U.S. firm had gotten fed up with inconsistent quality, delivery and lack of responsiveness by Chinese firms. Economic Problems in Taiwan -------------- ¶8. (SBU) Looking to Taiwan's future prosperity, Morris Chang said he was most concerned about the need for job creation and the growing wealth gap. He said for his hi-tech business, conditions are very good, but that for many in Taiwan their prospects are declining, as evidenced by the growing wealth gap between the top and bottom earners in the economy. Nelson Chang agreed with this assessment as did Frank Huang. Nelson emphasized the need for creating good-quality jobs in Taiwan while Frank Huang observed that conditions in southern Taiwan are declining. He said that areas south of Taichung, formerly home to many of the industries which have shifted to the Mainland, are increasingly difficult places to do business. When asked about operating in the Southern Taiwan Science Park, Huang replied that he didn't even want to establish plants there. Daniel Tsai suggested Taiwan should pay more attention to development of service-sector jobs, noting a government effort started in 2004 by the Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD) had shown little in the way of results. Tsai added that Taiwan should not only focus on developing financial services, but also boost development of other services industries. KORUS-FTA -------------- ¶9. (SBU) When asked about the potential impact on Taiwan firms of the Korean-US Free Trade Agreement, the hi-tech representatives immediately said there would be no impact at all on them. There seemed to be general agreement there would be little or no impact around the table with the notable exception of Jason Lin. He said of course Taiwan should be concerned about the potential impact, though he did not specify any direct impact on his own firm's operations. COMMENT - These last comments contrast sharply with the Taiwan government's strong emphasis in the negative impact of KORUS. Although this is admittedly a small sample, it leads to some suspicion that the government's emphasis is more of roundabout way to push for their political goal of an FTA here, rather than reflecting a strong sentiment within the business community. YOUNG