Taiwanese investment

Taiwanese investment

I am writing to point out a couple of mistakes in your report on Taiwanese investment in Indonesia that appeared in The Jakarta Post on March 8, 1995.

First, the report quoted the number of Taiwanese affiliates in Indonesia (49, which was mistaken to be 39), that were incorporated in our study and used that number to compare with sample sizes in other countries. In fact, sample size only reflects the number of respondents to our survey and not necessarily the actual population of investors.

Since official statistics on foreign investment are usually unreliable, it is very difficult to determine whether Indonesia attracted more Taiwanese investment than other Southeast Asian Countries or not. We do know that in recent years Taiwanese investment into Indonesia has been on the rise. Furthermore, our survey also shows that average employment of Taiwanese projects in Indonesia is the largest among all countries surveyed.

Second, our study did not attempt to compare the attractiveness of investment climate in South East Asia. Our study, however, indicates that Taiwanese investors like the inexpensive cost and potential local market in Indonesia. While investors in other countries may prefer other attractions, this does not suggest that Indonesia is less or more attractive than other countries.

For a host country, I think the key is to attract the industries that are conducive to economic development and income equity, and I believe that Taiwanese investors can deliver these. The amount of investment is only a secondary concern.

I appreciate the Post's attention to this important issue of foreign investment.

TAIN-JY, CHEN

Chung-Hua Institute

for Economic Research

Taiwan