US economy controls Taiwan's

[dArKeR]

Chao Wen-heng ???

Saturday, Apr 03, 2004,Page 8

Taiwan's exports to the US have been declining in recent years. Exports to the US as a proportion of total national exports have slipped from 25.6 percent in 1998 to 18 percent last year and China has now taken over the position as Taiwan's biggest export market, which was long held by the US. Product exports to the China region (China and Hong Kong) last year made up 34.5 percent of the nation's total exports. Doesn't this imply a lessening of the importance of US markets to Taiwan? Has China already become the lifeblood of Taiwan's economic development?

We can answer these questions by approaching them from the point of view of one simple phenomenon. A sluggish US information-technology (IT) market was one of the main reasons behind the decline in Taiwan's economy in 2001. Because the IT industry makes up a very large part of the economy, it was the first and most heavily affected. But in 2001, another market important to Taiwan -- China -- still saw rapid economic growth and Taiwan's US-bound exports were already in a state of decline. Given this situation, why didn't China's econo-mic growth cause Taiwan's economy to start moving? Instead, it declined, affected by the US economy.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/edit/archives/2004/04/03/2003116517