TAIPEI: Taiwanese business people failed to be impressed by a Chinese promise that its new foreign investment law would also apply to Taiwanese, reports said.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang (李克強) said at a news conference Friday that the law, passed earlier in the day, would also be valid for investors from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, the Central News Agency reported.
The law served to indicate the direction of economic reforms, but did not offer enough concrete details, leaving investors to wonder where “the beef” was, CNA quoted one Taiwanese businessperson. Its content was mostly aimed at the United States, its government and its businesses, he said.
The new law would not only not really affect investors from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, but would even attract more of them, Li told reporters in Beijing. He promised that the number of businesses or areas closed to foreign investor would shrink considerably.
Existing legislation dates back to 1994, with Taiwanese investors hoping to see measures benefiting them being written into law. The new law approved Friday will take effect next January, according to the CNA report.
