Intelligence Online

CANADA

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES WITH TAIWAN COMPANIES GROW
GREATER AS IMMIGRATION INCREASES

Not that long ago, Hong Kong immigrants were the locomotive that drove the local economy of the Chinese Canadian community. Realtors, car dealers, bankers and restauranteurs all scramble to serve Hong Kong immigrants. But since the return of Hong Kong to China in 1997, there has been a steady decrease in the number of immigrants coming from there. Last year, the number was the lowest in 20 years. Conversely, the number of returnees has been increasing. Now, immigrants from Taiwan have replaced those from Hong Kong as the driving force behind the economy of the Chinese Canadian community.

In terms of net numbers, Taiwanese coming to B.C. exceeded those from Hong Kong in 1998. They numbered 4,593 Taiwanese then, second only to those from mainland China (5,342), which ranked first as the supplying country in that year.

In terms of tourists to B.C., Taiwanese, at 114,000 in 1999, ranked sixth behind U.S., Japan, U.K., Germany and Australia, and approaching the combined figures for China and Hong Kong. The rate of increase was 28.3%. Last year, Taiwanese tourists contributed $145 million to our economy. Another feature in which they differ from China is that although Taiwanese tourists are numerous, they very seldom disappear. Ironically, for political reasons, Canada insists on visas for these tourists, giving unnecessary troubles to them and additional work to the Canadian office in Taiwan.

The considerable purchasing power of the Taiwanese immigrants has made itself felt among the Chinese media. The Fairchild Media Group, which has two Chinese-language TV stations and two radio stations in Vancouver, switched the language of one of its TV and radio stations from Cantonese to Mandarin (which is the language of both China and Taiwan). And the programmes now consist largely of Taiwan-produced Mandarin ones. Concurrently and co-incidentally, the Toronto-based Torstar group which owns the Sing Tao Daily recently published a new newspaper aimed at Taiwanese immigrants, the Taiwan Daily.

Greater Vancouver is the preferred destination for Taiwanese immigrants; 63% of those who arrived in Canada in the last quarter of 1999 came to B.C. The owner of a well-known Chinese restaurant told me that he now required all his waiters to be proficient in Mandarin, since all he heard as he went from dinner table to dinner table was nothing but Mandarin.

There is little doubt that the relationship between B.C. and Taiwan looks set to become closer. In bilateral trade, Taiwan is B.C.fifth largest export market. The total export value to Taiwan in 1998 is $361 million.

The ties between Taiwan and Vancouver will become stronger, and that will not be limited to tourism and trade only. It is also possible to develop a high tech partnership between the two places.

Taiwan's main computer chip manufacturerMosel Vitelic Inc. had a plan to invest Cdn $21 billion in a manufacturing plant outside Taiwan. After surveying six countries, it narrowed its options to Montreal, Burlington (Ontario) and Surrey. In a recent meeting in Taiwan, the deputy investment minister of B.C. was told that Mosel Vitelic considered Surrey as the number one choice in Canada. Negotiations have now started on the sort of favourable terms the government could offer. Surrey City Council is setting aside 200 acres of land between Surrey and Langley for industrial use.

Consultant KPMG's recent report comparing Vancouver with seven U.S. cities as centres of high tech development found Vancouver superior in its scenic beauty, quality of life, and lowest cost in developing electronics, telecommunication and software engineering.

Taiwan is now the world's third larges information technology producer, turning out a total of US$32 billion worth of information products. Nine computer-related products are ranked number one in terms of production output in the global marketplace. These are motherboards, keyboards, image scanners. modems, power supplies, monitors, graphic cards and network cards. By the end of 1998, Taiwan replaced Japan in becoming the world leader in the production of notebook PCs.

Some of the world's premier brand names like Compaq, Dell, IBM, HP and Apple have one third of their computer products made in Taiwan. At present, Taiwan has a close relationship with Silicon Valley in USA. It is not impossible for Greater Vancouver to forge as close a tie with Taiwan, to make it the second centre of its investment and partnership. The giant earthquake last year and the continuous war threat from China are a warning to Taiwan entrepreneurs to diversify their manufacturing locations. Mosel Vitelic Inc.'s investment, when it comes about, will be a signal for further partnership and development.
- Gabriel Yiu
reprint from BUSINESS IN VANCOUVER, May 2-8, 2000