Diaoyutai Islet Issue Fuels Taiwan-Japan SME Cooperation

Taipei, Nov. 9, 2012 (CENS)--Anti-Japan sentiment in China due to sovereignty of Diaoyutai Islets has been driving Japanese firms to seek friendlier investment environments in Southeast Asia, hence resulting in simmering cooperation and exchanges between Taiwanese and Japanese small and medium enterprises (SMEs) recently.

According to statistics compiled by Taiwan's Industrial Development Bureau (IDB), investments by Japanese enterprises in Taiwan in the past nine months have risen by 110 over a year ago with value of US$336 million, up 8.84% YoY.

One of the projects include the construction of a plant by Daikure Co., Ltd., a supplier of grating and landscaping products, in the Southern Taiwan Science Park, in which the Japanese company has bought land for NT$100 million to start building soon.

Bilateral cooperation between SEMs from Taiwan and Japan is clearly rising also. For instance, the Taiwan Electronic Equipment Industry Association just signed a memorandum of understanding with the local government of Oita Ken, a prefecture in northeastern Kyushu Island, where semiconductor manufacturing is a staple industry, for more industrial exchanges.

To accelerate the trend, the IDB has set up a Taiwan-Japan cooperation office, aiming to help materialize 500 partnerships and 10 successful joint brands between Taiwanese and Japanese SMEs from different sectors by 2016, said IDB director-general Woody Duh, who added the office also looks forward to raising procurement of Taiwan-made products by Japanese companies to NT$30 billion a year from the current average of NT$5 billion.