Taiwan mission due here

Taiwan mission due here

TAIPEI (AFP): Taiwan's top economic policymaker P. K. Chiang
was due to leave yesterday with a high-powered business
delegation to seek investment opportunities in economically
devastated Southeast Asia.

Chiang, chairman of the cabinet-level Council for Economic
Planning and Development told reporters Friday the mission would
investigate opportunities in the Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand
and Malaysia and help Taiwan businesses there which had been hit
by the crisis.

Council vice chairman Schive Chi has said investment in the
region is the best way to help Southeast Asia ride out the
crisis.

"Now is the best time to invest in Southeast Asia. It's very
much like investing in the stock market, you need to seize the
opportunity when it comes," he said on Thursday.

Chiang said the delegation would also investigate during its
10-day mission how Taiwan can help the financially embattled
nations.

President Lee Teng-hui has urged Taiwanese enterprises to
invest in the region. "Taiwan is closely linked to Southeast
Asia. Rather than offering them cash, Taiwan could provide its
experience and invest there to create a win-win situation," he
said last month.

Despite the government's repeated calls for more investment in
the region, Taiwan's food giant President Enterprises was
reported Friday to have suspended 20 billion Taiwan dollars
(US$586.51 million) worth of projects in the Philippines.

Kao Chin-yen, the group's president, told a local newspaper
his company would shelve plans to invest in a joint-venture
instant noodle factory, a power station, and convenience store
chains due to soaring risks posed by falling currencies.

The mission leaving Sunday comprises more than 60 tycoons from
Taiwan's industrial and financial sectors, including Kao.