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Asia-Pacific
Regional Operations Centre |
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APROC |
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In the 21st century, the Asia-Pacific region will be a key
centre of global economic activity. The facts which make Taiwan
stand out above other nations in the region are:
- An open and dynamic economy
- A sound financial base
- High-quality human resources
- A democratic society
- A strategic position
- Trade and economic links
throughout the region
- Linguistic and cultural
affinities with many other key areas in the Asia-Pacific
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APROC
is a broad program of liberalization, freeing the flow of
goods, services, personnel, capital, and information. Under
APROC
specialized centers for high-tech manufacturing, sea and air
transportation, financial services, telecommunications, and
media will be established to develop Taiwan into an Island
of Science and Technology that is also a gateway to the Asia-Pacific
region, the market of markets of the 21st Century.
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Asia-Pacific
Regional Operations of Financial Centre |
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FINANCIAL
CENTRE |
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Taiwan's substantial economic resources, huge foreign exchange
reserves, and offshore banking center form the building blocks
for its emergence as a financial hub. The domestic securities
market has been opened to direct investment by foreign individual
and corporate investors. Entry into the insurance market has
been relaxed and is now open to companies from other countries
besides the United States. The market offers many opportunities
for further expansion, with products such as pension funds yet
to be widely developed.
Matching its strong economic fundamentals with measured and
appropriate liberalization, Taiwan is strengthening its international
financial capabilities, giving rise to a new regional financial
hub. |
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Asia-Pacific
Regional Operations of Sea Transportation Centre |
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SEA
TRANSPORTATION |
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As an export-driven island economy, Taiwan has long depended
on sea transportation. Three main ports, strategically located
around the island Kaohsiung in the south, Taichung in the centre,
and Keelung in the north, serve its sea transportation needs.
Kaohsiung is the third largest container port in the world and
a major transshipment centre. Completion of the APROC initiatives
on port management and construction will ensure that Taiwan
offers world class, ultra competitive sea transportation, supporting
the manufacturing centre role and making it the prime shipping
hub in the region. |
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Asia-Pacific
Regional Operations of Air Transportation Centre |
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AIR
TRANSPORTATION |
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Taiwan's location at the centre of the Asia-Pacific
region is vital to airline routes linking Northeast and Southeast
Asia, and an ideal transit hub between North America and East
Asia.
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Chiang Kai-Shek (CKS) International
Airport is undergoing expansion to increase capacity for both
cargo and passenger traffic. As just-in-time delivery becomes
the norm of high-end manufacturing, the market for express air
cargo is set to continue its rapid expansion for years to region,
where there is a strong need for a regional hub for air cargo
sorting and distribution. With its central location and attractive
local market, Taiwan perfectly fits this around CKS International
Airport are in progress, with draft plans for land use already
finalized.
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| United Parcel Service (UPS) established
its regional headquarters at CKS International Airport in 1996,
and Federal Express (Fedex) has also expanded its operation
at the airport. |
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Asia-Pacific
Regional Operations of Manufacturing Centre |
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MANUFACTURING |
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| Taiwan has already become
the world's third largest manufacturer of information technology
hardware, surpassed only by the USA and Japan. It tops the list
in the production of leading edge information products such
as motherboards, keyboards, and scanners. A key area of the
APROC plan is to establish between 20 and 30 intelligent industrial
parks around the island - 17 of which are in the planning stage
or under development. Interlinked by state of the art digital
communications networks and rapid connections to the main arteries
of the island's transportation infrastructure, the parks will
play an important part in making Taiwan an Island of Science
and Technology. |
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Asia-Pacific
Regional Operations of Telecommunications Centre |
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TELECOMMUNICATIONS |
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Taiwan possesses two prime strengths in telecommunications:
its basic telecommunications infrastructure and a proven ability
to absorb new technology. As the island's telecommunications
industry improves its competitiveness, it is also expanding
into the region for a leading position in the Asia-Pacific market.
The mobile phone, paging, mobile digital communication, and
trunking radio markets have already been opened. In due course,
all basic telecom services will follow suit. A national information
infrastructure (NII) is being developed, using optical cable
for the digitization of more services.
Taiwan's liberalization of telecommunications and its technological
enhancements are integral to the development of other operations
centres and will also provide the infrastructure and low cost,
high quality services Taiwan needs to take the lead in the booming
Asia-Pacific telecommunications market. |
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Asia-Pacific
Regional Operations of Media Centre |
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MEDIA
CENTRE |
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Taiwan's linguistic
and cultural background, combined with its technological resources
and talented people, makes it an ideal centre for production
and distribution of Chinese language TV programs and films.
With its open society, vibrant media, and unrestrained freedom
of expression, Taiwan is the best possible centre of operations
for Chinese language media in the Asia-Pacific region.
Under the APROC plan, a number of measures have been implemented
to support Taiwan's development as a media centre. For example,
plans are complete for several high-tech media parks, bringing
together all the necessary elements for the production and post
production of Chinese language TV programs and movies. Major
media corporations have already endorsed Taiwan as a media centre. |
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APROC
