Investments from Taiwan in Hong Kong have plunged, as more Taiwan investors shift their overseas and mainland-bound investment bases to Singapore and the Caribbean, the United Daily News says. Citing statistics compiled by the economic ministry, the newspaper said 79 per cent of Taiwan businesses used Hong Kong as a springboard for their mainland-bound investments during the 1991-1995 period. The rate slid to 28 per cent last year as Taiwan enterprises moved to avert risks arising from Hong Kong's handover, the Chinese-language paper said. Last year, Taiwan approved 37 Hong Kong-bound investment projects worth US$59.9 million, compared with 50 such cases totalling $99.6 million in 1995.
Hong Kong has been an important conduit for Taiwan's booming trade with the mainland and for Taiwan businesses to invest on the mainland, bypassing a Taiwan Government ban on direct contacts with the mainland. There were 54 cases of Taiwanese investment in Singapore worth $164.9 million last year, compared with 20 projects valued at $31.6 million in 1995. Taiwanese investments in British-controlled tax havens, the British Virgin Islands and Cayman Islands, also saw a heavy 111 per cent increase last year.
