DEPENDING on one's degree of faith or cynicism, it will be the biggest coup in the history of Taiwan since the Kuomintang snatched away China's most precious paintings, pottery and sculpture from the conquering communists.
Or, it is just a gimmick which the ruling party will abandon soon after the legislative elections at the end of this year.
In any event, a lot of heads have been turned since Taiwan's announcement last January that it would turn itself into a 'regional operations centre', that is - though no one puts it quite so bluntly - a second Hong Kong, or even perhaps a replacement for the freewheeling colony should post-1997 mainland rule go wrong.
It may be difficult to duplicate the territory's financial markets, but otherwise, 'we are doing something similar to Hong Kong,' said Hsueh Chi, Vice-Chairman of the Council for Economic Planning and Development, and one of the masterminds of the plan.
For an island state which only recently began to liberalise and whose financial and business regulations make it more of a backwater than a frontline service centre, the plan is highly ambitious.
The basic idea is to attract multinationals to set up their Asia-Pacific headquarters here. They would be enticed because under the plan Taiwan would become a leading regional telecommunications, aviation and shipping hub, financial markets would become among the freest and most dynamic in Asia, and research and development schemes would make the manufacturing sector one of the most advanced anywhere.
