Asia Magazine #5

asia bulletin no.5 2005年5月

二

零

零

五

年

五

月

3ASIA BULLETIN May 2005

Asia Bulletin no. 5 May 2005

editors

Oskar HagbergMagnus Lundvall

writers

Pontus AllCharlotte AndreassonPontus ClaessonAnders FrickOskar HagbergMagnus LundvallHåkan OlssonPer SandströmYan Po SoYan Tai So

Chalmers Asia

National Chiao Tung University

1001 Ta-Hsueh Rd., Hsinchu

Taiwan, 300 Republic of China web www.asia.chalmers.se phone +886 (0)3 573 73 69 fax +886 (0)3 573 74 69 IP-phone 031 780 41 55 local call fee from Sweden

Language lesson

亞洲 (yazhou) Asia

年 (nian) Year

月 (yue) Month

零 (ling) Zero

二 (er) Two

五 (wu) Five

What is Chalmers Asia ?Chalmers Asia (formerly CITO) opened in March 2003 and is the result of a bilateral exchange agreement between National Chiao Tung University (NCTU) and Chalmers University of Technology. The Chalmers Asia office is strategically located at NCTU, near Hsinchu Science-Based Industrial Park and ITRI, Taiwan’s most important industry cluster. The purpose of Chalmers Asia • Increase awareness at Chalmers about the development in East Asia, with focus on China and particularly Taiwan

• Support mobility of students and staff between NCTU and Chalmers

• Enhance Chalmers’ visibility in

Taiwan and the neighboring region

Academic exchangeAt Chalmers the interest among the sudents for studies in Taiwan is higher than ever. The reason is probably the efforts of the newly opened taiwanese NCTU office at Chalmers as well as increasing awarenes of the Asian region. Here at NCTU we are currently preparing Taiwanese students for their year in Sweden.

Contents

Letter from the Editor 3

Chalmers Asia: 4 The Year of the Rooster

NCTU: 6 On Campus

Taiwan: 7 The Undiscovered Destination

Taipei: 8 The World’s First Mobile City

A Sight Into: 10 Job Market in Taiwan

Taiwan: 12 Corporate Culture Success

Macau: 14 Asia’s Own Las Vegas

Mainland China and Taiwan: 15 Swedish Company Aid and Support

Investing in East China: 18 Shandong, the Richest Province

China: 19 Regarding China’s Energy

Consumption

Asia: 20 Rising Tension in the Taiwan Strait

Asia: 21 Living With the Dragon Next Door

High-Tech Japan: 22 Osaka - The Robot City

Photo by O

skar Hagberg


Letter from the Editor Magnus Lundvall, editor

magnus.lundvall(at)asia.chalmers.se

Communication, the humanity would not be what it is today without communication. Historically it has

been proven that if we share our knowledge, think together and collaborate we can achieve so much more than if we work alone. The key to this is good communication.

But there have also been a lot of other occasions when the dialogue and body language wasn’t sufficient enough. One amusing example of this is when I went to the hairdresser and after the hair cut was done, I tried to explain that I wanted the fringe shorter. This resulted in that two seconds later, all my hair got alot shorter.

In this fifth issue of the bulletin from Chalmers Asia you can read interesting articles about the Taiwan and Mainland China conflict, corporate culture and the job market in Taiwan, the energy consumption in China, casinos in Macau and robots in Japan, and more.

The purpose of this publication is to gather information on the development in East Asia and share it with people connected to Chalmers, in order to increase the awareness of this region. If you are interested in learning more about the opportunities that the Chalmers-NCTU collaboration offer, you are welcome to contact our office. Taiwan might seem far from Sweden, but the distance is shrinking as we are increasing our knowledge about each other.

Photo by M

agnus Lundvall

If you have problems with your bike and insufficient Chinese vocabulary for the situation, body language might be your only way to get help.

For some areas separated by great distance, different cultures and different languages, communication could be a problem. This is where Chalmers Asia enters the picture, to open up for communication possibilities.

One of my first impressions of Taiwan is that even if communication can be hard when both parts don’t speak the same language, it works out surprisingly well anyway. This is mainly because of the good will and kindness of the Taiwanese people.

An example of this is when I have been buying something in a store or market and there arises some problem that can’t be explained to me so I understand it with my very limited Chinese vocabulary. In several occasions someone nearby that speaks a little English has rescued me by acting as an interpreter. Many Taiwanese who speaks English are very glad to help foreigners and during the mean time practice their English.

Another example is when I was out on a longer ride with my bike and suddenly the saddle loosened so much that I couldn’t sit on it anymore. I stopped by one of the many scooter shops and could with the help of body language explain that I wanted to borrow an adjustable spanner. I could now fix the problem and got a pleasant ride home.

Goutong is the Mandarin Chinese word for communication.


Chalmers Asia:

The Year of the Rooster

Oskar Hagberg, editor

oskar.hagberg(at)asia.chalmers.se

Magnus Lundvall, editor


Representatives this SemesterPontus All, Head of Office, is a student in Computer Science & Engineering. As Head of Office it lies within his responsibilities to represent Chalmers in contacts with NCTU, to be the main contact to the President’s Office at Chalmers and to allocate work among the Chalmers Asia representatives. Furthermore he has the over-all responsibility for the economy of the office. Yan Tai So, Deputy Head of Office, is a student in Computer Science & Engineering. As Deputy Head of Office he assists Pontus in his work.

Håkan Olsson, representative, is a student in Engineering Physics. Håkan will, together with Per and Charlotte, work with the exchange of students and PhD’s between Chalmers and NCTU. Oskar Hagberg, representative, is a student in Electrical Engineering. Oskar is responsible for the technical and economical survey, i.e. to make sure that this publication – the Chalmers Asia Bulletin – is produced. In addition he manages the office web site, www.asia.chalmers.se. Per Sandström, representative, is a student in Electrical Engineering. Per is part of the group responsible for the exchange of students and PhD’s between Chalmers and NCTU. Magnus Lundvall, representative, is a student in Computer Science & Engineering. Together with Oskar he is responsible for the production of the Chalmers Asia Bulletin as well as the IT-part of the office. Charlotte Andreasson, representative, is a student in Electrical Engineering. Charlotte is part of the group responsible for the exchange of students and PhD’s between Chalmers and NCTU. Pontus Claesson, representative, is a student in Mechanical Engineering. Pontus works with the office’s corporate relations together with Anders Frick. Anders Frick, representative, already has a Master of Science from University of Linköping but will take a second one at NCTU in Taiwan. Anders will work together with Pontus Claesson with corporate relations.

Photo by passing by N

CTU

student

From left: Pontus Claesson, Per Sandström, Pontus All, Oskar Hagberg, Charlotte Andreasson, Håkan Olsson, Yan Tai So, Magnus Lundvall, Anders Frick.

The year of the monkey has passed and allowed the feathered rooster to be printed on T-shirts and Starbucks mugs. One advantage of living in Taiwan is that you can celebrate the new year twice. First the western style on the night of December 30th when the world’s tallest building exploded in an impressive display of fireworks and the young went partying more than usual. Then, a couple of weeks later, the eastern way with a week long celebration of the year of the rooster, which in Taiwan is a quiet family holiday with good food and red envelopes filled with cash. This time is the only time when some of the stores where actually closed for business. As every semester, some of us has returned to Sweden and a couple of new Chalmers Asia representatives has taken their place. The line-up for spring semester 2005 is as follows:

The assignment for the period February 2005 – June 2005• Chalmers Asia needs to maintain focus on promotion of exchanges, including work with the double PhD-program.• Chalmers Asia shall assist Chalmers’ and NCTU’s efforts to increase the cooperation in research, particularly by facilitating exchange of information about research initiatives and the mobility of PhD students.• Chalmers Asia is expected to further develop cooperation with companies in a few selected areas.• As a part of Chalmers international exchanges, Chalmers Asia shall establish itself as a hub at NCTU for Chalmers students in Eastern Asia (particularly Hong Kong, Tokyo, Singapore and Shanghai).• The students are expected to make reports on developments in Taiwan and Eastern Asia.


Major events during the spring• In the beginning of the semester we had a kick off to welcome our new Chalmers Asia members and at the same time thank the members, returning home to Sweden, for their work here.

• A social event was arranged with the Taiwanese students that are going to Sweden next semester. The purpose was to get to know each other better to facilitate the future co-operation with the NCTU Europe office.

• The office also held an event with the NCTU students that already have been to Chalmers and returned to Taiwan. We all had a very nice evening when we ate dinner together and later went bowling.

• In the end of March, the two year anniversary of Chalmers Asia was celebrated with much pomp and ceremony, and some pieces of cakes. At lunchtime on the anniversary day, the Chalmers Asia office started to get full of curious students. They all wanted to celebrate the two-year-old “baby”, which quickly has grown up to be a valuable Swedish centre in Taiwan. Among the visitors were also representatives from Taiwan’s Ministry of Education.

• Also, during this semester, we have arranged unihoc games (also called floor ball or innebandy) once a week. Unihoc is a new sport in Taiwan but both Swedish and Taiwanese students play and have great fun together. You can read more about Unihoc at NCTU on the next page.

• During the celebration of NCTU’s birthday in April this year, Chalmers Asia put up a booth where Swedish pancakes were made and served with Swedish raspberry and blueberry jam. The competition was tough with food from all over the world, but the Swedish pancakes were a success and it was hard to produce in the same rate the people streamed in.

• A group of Swedish politicians (from the Moderate Party), invited by the Taiwanese government, visited NCTU and Chalmers Asia in the beginning of May. The politicians were interested in the exchange between Chalmers and NCTU. The visit was noticed in media in national news papers and a local TV news channel in Hsinchu.

• In the end of April, Chalmers Asia was visited by Chalmers’ senior advisor to the president, Jörgen Sjöberg. Jörgen manages the strategies for Chalmers Asia and we discussed the current situation and future plans.

The curiosity about Sweden and possibly the large amount of cakes attracted many NCTU students and professors

Photo by A

nders Frick

Photo by A

nders Frick

A visit by Swedish politicians followed by a delicious dinner.

Photo by H

åkan Olsson

Photo by C

orey Chen

The pancakes was a success at the NCTU anniversary.

Photo by Lien H

ui-Chun

Photo by A

nders Frick

Photo by M

agnus Lundvall

Photo by M

agnus Lundvall

Discussions about the exchange while we are waiting for our Japanese style dinner to arrive.


Time to Play Unihoc

A new sport has arrived to NCTU. It is called Unihoc, and it comes from Sweden. Unihoc is a floor ball game, similar to ice hockey but without ice or skates. At NCTU, the sport is performed every Friday night at the basket ball court.

NCTU:

On Campus Anders Frick

anders.frick(at)asia.chalmers.se

Unihoc is an indoor team sport, played with plastic sticks where the aim is to put a light ball into the other team’s goal. The game is most popular in Sweden, Finland and Switzerland, and is also played in several other places – like Taiwan.

In Sweden, the sport is considered as one of the biggest sports – probably the second biggest after football, in number of active athletes. In Sweden there are 123 000 licensed players in about 1 300 clubs, but around one half million Swedes use to play regularly which is almost the same number as for soccer.

At NCTU, the Chalmers Asia office is organizing training sessions every Friday evening, at the basket ball court of NCTU. Usually, around 15-20 people use to show up and practice the sport. Many are beginners and some are more experienced players – but everyone is welcome to try the new sport.

– It is fun to show and share a piece of the Swedish sport culture, says Anders Frick, who together with Hugo Christiansson introduced Unihoc to Taiwan.

According to an electronic Underlag survey that Anders made at NCTU last semester, Taiwanese people care much about safety when performing sport activities. What also was considered as important is that the sport should be fun, easy to learn and

be possible to play both for beginners and more experienced players. Unihoc perfectly suits these demands.

In year 2009 the World Games will be held in Kaohsiung in Taiwan. There, Unihoc will probably be a participant, as the International Floorball Federation has applied for observer status for the Unihoc sport. Except from being a fun sport that is one more reason for NCTU students to start practice.

Left: Former Chalmers Asia representative Po scores. Right: Unihoc is usually not played with high heels but for a photo shot you can consider it.

NCTU students line up for a photo after an intense game of Unihoc at the School sport grounds.

NCTU biggest in Taiwan

Two of Taiwan’s largest universities, NCTU and NTHU in Hsinchu, are working on plans for a merge. The merge will create the largest university in Taiwan.

For several years, National Chiao Tung University and National Tsing Hua University has competed about being Taiwan’s second largest university - behind National Taiwan University in Taipei. But instead of competing, the two universities has now decided on a cooperation which finally will lead to a merge.

Photo by A

nders Frick

Photo by A

nders Frick

Who doesn’t want to be the biggest? Instead of competing for second place, NCTU and NTHU are now joining forces and create the biggest university in Taiwan.


Taiwan:

The Undiscovered Destination Per Sandström

per.sandstrom(at)asia.chalmers.se

When a Portuguese ship passed by Taiwan around 1590, a Dutch navigator aboard the ship exclaimed “Ilha Formosa!” which means beautiful island and that became the name of the island for four centuries. Today Taiwan is most famous for its high technological science parks, great industries and high building(s), but the proclaimed beauty has not vanished and Taiwan is still an interesting place to visit while traveling in Asia.

Most of the people live on the west coast, so if you want to see beautiful nature, the east coast and central Taiwan is the place to go. Both the east and the central part are characterized by high mountains and steep cliffs, and there are many opportunities to walk in the mountains and admire the beautiful scenery. The south part of the country is good place for swimming or just getting a tan on the beach. This is also the perfect place to dive with exotic fishes and watch the corals. There are guided tour busses to a lot of different places, but of course there is always the possibility to travel by yourself.

Taiwan is also famous for its food; some say that they have the best food in East Asia. You can find not only most of the traditional Chinese food, but also a quantity of native specialties. Almost every town has its own unique recipes, so while traveling around Taiwan you can experience a lot of new tastes. The price of food varies and is not always connected to the quality. Sometimes the cheap food at the night markets can be more exciting for the daring than a fancy restaurant. When entering a new town, try to find out what the specialties of that town are and try them.

For good or worse, Taiwan is not very experienced in handling tourists. The bad part is that you can not always get English help at train stations, post offices and similar. But the good part is that most of the Taiwanese are interested in you and will be happy to help you in every way they can. You often get help even before asking for it, and this makes you feel very welcome.

The country has developed rapidly the last decades to become one of the world’s most high technological nations, but the traditional way of living is not lost. There are an incredible amount of temples, in all sizes, positioned in all kind of places. Some temples are calm and quiet with the burning incense as the only proof of human presence, while others are full of praying people so you have to squeeze in. There are also numerous festivals in Taiwan, among others there are festivals for the gods, the ghosts, the moon and the food. It’s not uncommon that you see large corteges celebrating a god. A great number of people gather to see the trolleys, carrying men and women in costumes of gods and dragons go by, listen to the music and watch fireworks.

There are many opportunities for excellent shopping in Taiwan, both in traditional markets and large shopping centers. The traditional markets are usually more populated than the shopping centers and have a lot of remarkable things you can buy for bargaining price. Everything from wooden shoes, to last years clothing collection, to virility increasing snake blood is for sale at these markets. At many markets in Asia, you have to bargain for everything you look at, but not here. If you smile and ask nicely you can get a somewhat better price, but usually the set price is reasonable.

Photo by P

er Sandström

View over the north east coast line.

Photo by P

er Sandström

Taroko Gorge close to Hualien on the east coast.


Taipei:

The World’s First Mobile City Oskar Hagberg, editor


In line with the capitol of Taiwan’s efforts to establish an e-government, expansion of school computer facilities and creation of web sites for public agencies and schools, Taipei City has now finished the first of three steps in the “M-City” project making Taipei the world’s first city with 100% WLAN coverage. A true “Cyber City”.

The bidder who got to sign the contract was the Taiwanese company Q-Ware (www.qware.net). Q-Ware is planning to invest US$ 70 million for infrastructure, putting up 10,000 access points on pedestrian overpasses, street lamps, traffic symbols, elevated bridges, walls and roofs of public facilities and buildings as well as underground pipes. The wireless broadband network Q-ware is going to implement is based on Nortel’s Wireless Mesh Network solution using the familiar IEEE 802.11 standards, allowing users with Wi-Fi enabled laptops or PDA’s to access the network without new hardware or software. Nortel (www.nortel.com) is one of the leading companies in the wireless broadband evolution, providing wireless mesh network technology.

When you spot this logo you can take out your Wi-Fi equiped PDA and check your mail or browse your favourite website (provided you have signed up for the service)

The supplier of M-City’s management platform is the Swedish company Aptilio Networks (www.aptilio.com), based in Stockholm but operating in 30 countries all over the world. They will provide their WiFly solution which they claim will make accessing the wireless Internet as easy as using cell phones, a thing not foreign to Taiwanese people considering a roughly 100% mobile phone penetration on the island. Aptilio’s solution will, among other things, be used to administer and provision users, monitoring and reporting. According to Jan Sjönell, VP Asia Region at Aptilio Networks, the deal with Taipei is of great strategic importance to the company. The M-City project has not only received a lot of attention because of its size but it will most likely be copied by other cities around the world.

“Any time, Anywhere and Any-device” is the objective Taipei City Government has said to fulfil in the first quarter of 2006. Already a wireless coverage is provided in a central 6000 m2 testing area as well as 30 MRT (Mass Rapid Transit) stations and the area within 150 meters of these stations giving access to 20% of the city’s population. Taipei City is well suited for this kind of metropolitan network considering 80% of the citizens reside in a 10 km by 13 km area making deployment very cost-effective. By June this year step two will be reached allowing access at the rest of the MRT stations as well as some major districts giving coverage to about 50% of the city and later, by early next year, 90% of the population will be covered. Except Internet access, services like on line gaming, on line TV viewing, on line learning, ring tone downloading, short message sending and others will be provided which allow subscribers to kill time while waiting for their trains. But besides entertainment the goal is also to boost industry growth and national competence in areas such as semiconductors, digital content, displays, biotech and medicine. The wireless access is thought to create a variety of new business opportunities as well as strengthen cooperation between established industries.

Enjoy beautiful nature and get online at the same time.

Photo by O

skar Hagberg


Wireless Mesh NetworksMost of today’s wireless networks are not really that wireless. Attached to every access node is a cable and large wireless networks amount to a large tangle of wires. Nobody wants a large tangle of wires so techniques like mesh networks are a hot topic. In a wireless mesh network the Internet connections is shared from node to node making it easier and cheaper to set up, as well as making the network far more robust. The structure of the mesh provides redundant routing paths thus allowing nodes to break down without causing the whole network to crash. With traditional wireless networks the trouble of running wires through ducts and ceilings to set up antennas make citywide networks a near impossibility, but mesh networks solve the problem by removing the Ethernet cables from the equation almost entirely.

A company or campus network can rely on only one ore two physical connections to the Internet and then share the resource wirelessly from node to node in short jumps. These hops lower the capacity somewhat but enough bandwidth can be provided through one single physical connection giving Internet access to around two dozens nodes. Each of these nodes can be positioned anywhere from 50 meters to a kilometer apart making the infrastructure much cheaper and easier than traditional wireless networks. Except being ideal for deploying city wide, like in Taipei, companies that operate outdoors, such as the mining, logging and construction industries, can deploy temporary networks where there are no wired connections. Furthermore other industries like the car companies have suggested interesting implementations of mesh networks. It is getting more and more common for new cars to have Wi-Fi under the hood, allowing easy diagnostics at the workshop, so why not put a mesh capability in there and interconnect all the cars on a highway? This would make it possible to share Internet connection or traffic information in a economical way. Without doubt wireless mesh networks are a technology we will see more of in the future and it is great to be able to witness first hand such a big pilot project as the one in Taipei.

In Chinese wu means “lack of” or “none”, xian means “string” or “wire”, shang means “on”, “up” or “to go into” and wang simply means network. Combined they become the Chinese phrase for wireless Internet connection.

The principle behind a wireless mesh network. The architecture provides redundant routing paths with minimum effort.


Many famous companies are located in the Hsinchu Science Park

Photo by Yan Tai S

o

The Asian market is expanding rapidly and the job opportunities are many in Asia. In Taiwan, one may find both opportunities and challenges. In this article we will find out how the job market looks like and get a sight into how the job market hunting works.

The job market is very big in Taiwan and many companies are constantly in lack of high-competent engineers. A lot of famous companies come from Taiwan and the chance is high to get into a world-wide leading company in its area. Taiwan also has a lot of OEM (original equipment manufacturing) companies that the consumer never hear of but still are world-leading as supplier. As an engineer (especially in computer science and electrical engineering field) in Taiwan, it’s rather easy to find a job. The places where one can try are for example the HSIP (Hsinchu Industrial Science Park) or other science parks around Taiwan. If one want to work in Taipei, Neihu (內湖) is an excellent place to find a technical company, which can be considered as the science park of Taipei. The majority of companies in technical fields in Taipei are located at the boundary to the Taipei City, because the rents are lower there. However, the factories are built in Science parks; other places outside Taipei or even in mainland China, because the rent is cheaper, or because the factories will be closer to the delivery place which cuts down the transportation costs. An example of this is a company who built their factory just next to the supplier, which could exclude the cost of transportation, since they built a pipeline to connect the

companies, to deliver the products in the fastest way and to cut down the cost.

StatusTaiwan endeavours to be considered as a R&D (Research and Development) country and a lot of money in Taiwan are invested into R&D. As a result of this, a high number of people are needed to be hired into the R&D sector and this makes the market very interesting for an engineer. R&D is needed for Taiwan to keep control of key technologies and in that way keep being competitive. If Taiwan doesn’t invest money into R&D, they won’t be able to compete with China later on, and this is one reason why all companies have pretty large R&D divisions. For an engineer, this means that the market needs you more than the opposite, which means that the opportunities are countless.

Path to get employedNormally, the last-year students start to look for the jobs in March at the big job fairs. All the bigger universities have a period of seminars, where they invite companies to come and give a presentation of their company. The companies have to pay a fee to the universities to hold a seminar (and this fee is fairly high, but they still want to come since they are truly in lack of high-competent people). During these seminars, the students will get to know more about the company and what kind of people they want to hire. Except these seminars, many universities will also have a job fair day, when the companies come to the university and expos themselves. These days are very good and give the students a closer contact with the companies and they can also submit their CV’s. A remarkable thing to note is that a lot of people that already have a job come to the fair to get an opportunity to find a new job.

Why work in Taiwan?Since there are many technical companies in Taiwan, and the market is in lack of high-competent people, one may wonder how the companies try to attract the students to their company. One interesting thing that they always keep on emphasizing is that working in their company is just like changing from one lab (university lab) to another lab. The engineers don’t have to dress up and can come to work in slippers (note: many Taiwanese students go to class in slippers).

Many foreigners think that Taiwan has a low salary, but the truth is that it isn’t as bad as it may sound. A normal pay for

A Sight Into:

Job Market in Taiwan Yan Tai So

alex.so(at)asia.chalmers.se


a computer science engineer with Master’s degree in Taiwan is about 42 000 NT. This amount differs according to which industry one is in. Most companies pay 14 months salary per year and many also pays extra bonuses based on performance. In addition to that, one will also get stocks of the company that might be worth a lot if you are lucky. These bonuses are altogether worth pretty much, but never mentioned when the salaries in Taiwan are discussed. One should also consider that the living expense is much lower in Taiwan, which may make the living standard pretty high-level with this amount of money. The taxes ranges from 6% - 40% depending on the salary. Other usual benefits one will get with a job is the following: vacation at marriage, sickness pay (the government requires half pay 30 days per year, but some companies give full pay at the first few days), vacation (usually between 10-30 days depending on what company and how long one has worked there), subsidies for off-work training or vacation trips, company sports activity day, end of year dinner and etc. One thing to remember is that the extra months of pay and stock bonuses are paid every year at Chinese New Year so most workers will not change to a new work before that time, but after. Edouard Ma Poon from South Africa has worked as a software engineer at Pervasive Computing, IBM Software Group, which is an R&D lab in Greater China. He thinks that Taiwan is one of the leading countries in terms of technology development and gives him the chance to experience a complete different corporate culture and environment. “Working in Taiwan exposes me to an environment that enables me to work with the latest technology”, says Edouard., and continues, “Taiwan is an excellent market for engineers, those wishing to pursue engineering-related jobs will find a lot of jobs available in that area here but, for commerce, and services, it’s not as strong as Taiwan is still a country that relies a lot on industrial output”. Kit Wong, who comes from Hong Kong, works in a local company in Neihu Science Park says: “Working in Taiwan is challenging and rewarding. I get to work with people who are enthusiastic about what they do and will always try their best to deliver the best results.”

Work permissionIt’s not very hard to get work permission in Taiwan, but there are some rules. The Taiwanese government has legislated that

all foreigner workers should have a salary that is higher than the average local workers in the same field, to avoid competition against the local people. Currently this sum is around 48 000 NT and can be considered as a measurement of the salary standard in Taiwan. Further on, to get work permission, one need to either have a Bachelor of Science degree plus 2 years of work experience or a Master of Science degree. This ensure that the foreigner have some special skills that is needed by the company that can’t be found among the local workers.

FutureMany companies send their recruited personnel to mainland China and one might fear that the whole company will be moved there in the future. However, this chance is pretty small, even if the manufacturing part will be moved to mainland China, the most top R&D part will still be kept in Taiwan, because of the knowledge and to keep Taiwan’s position. For example, a company (in computer science field) let India and China build the most parts of their systems, but in the end the systems still have to be returned to Taiwan where some more functionalities are added or the existing system will have to get modified. In Taiwan, the companies have some problem to communicate with the Indians and the Taiwanese don’t always get what they want. This is one of many reasons why most of the Taiwanese companies cooperate with companies in mainland China. Even if companies move from Taiwan later on, the work experience gained in Taiwan will be very useful in mainland China and to work in Taiwan is a good start to get into the Asian market which is expanding like an explosion.

Thanks to (alphabetically):Edouard Ma PoonKit Wong

The IBM building in Nankang, Taipei

Photo by E

douard Ma P

oon

The street names in HSIP are very descriptive

Photo by Yan Tai S

o

13ASIA BULLETIN May 2005P

hoto by Anders Frick

Here one of the many engineers with high morality, Forrest Lin at the network company DrayTek, is completing the tests on the latest model of camera sensors.

In Sweden we have a long tradition of industrial giants such as Volvo, Ericsson and ABB as a backbone in our industry. These companies influence the Swedish economy to such a degree that if any of these industries would face a severe set-back or decide to move production abroad, the consequences will be disastrous.

With this in mind the Taiwanese corporate culture stand out as an interesting opposite pole to the Swedish. The outline of the corporate culture of Taiwan is completely different from the Swedish and is instead composed of a great number of small and medium sized enterprises, usually called SMEs. These companies have depending of different aspects become very successful and collectively they have contributed to build up the welfare of Taiwan.

Facts shows that more than 40 % of the SMEs have been active for more then 40 years and today they represent 97,8 % of the more than one million companies in Taiwan. Altogether the SMEs employ 78 % of the workforce. As a comparison 67 % of the workforce in Sweden are employed in SMEs and South Korea is the only country in the world, where SMEs play a more important role for employment.

Political contribution to the successFor many years USA was a great contributor to create a free market, which helped the SMEs to develop. When the support from the US diminished, the government worked hard to find new foreign investors. Several laws where changed to facilitate the foreign direct investments. From this investments Taiwan has been provided with advanced technology and an international marketing network.

Although Taiwan is a low-wage country compared to Sweden, the competition towards China, which has substantially lower wages, has implied many labor-intensive companies to desert Taiwan. To avoid problems related to unemployment, the government settled a strategy to invest in high tech industries. The strategy has resulted in the creation of science parks, such as Hsinchu Science Park 1981, and start-your-own firm allowance. As well non-profit organizations such as ITRI, Industrial Technology Research Institute, were created to speed up the diffusion of technical competence.

Cultural contribution to the successIt is not unusual with R&D engineers working more than 12 hours every day, without overtime pay, sometimes as well on

Saturdays. One reason is that they want to finish projects in advance, simply because the competition among engineers is as significant as it is among the companies. Especially this is true in Hsinchu, where NCTU, National Chiao Tung University, have thousands of students studying to become electro engineers.

It is obvious that the reason for the morality of the employees can also be explained in the structure of payment that is significantly different from the Swedish model. The basic salary is quite small, but if the company performs well and especially if you make something noticeable, then you will receive a considerable

Taiwan:

Corporate Culture Success Håkan Olsson in cooperation with Kajsa Beijer-Olsen

hakan.olsson(at)asia.chalmers.se

Photo by A

nders Frick

The success with the science park in Hsinchu is unmistakable.


amount of money and stock options in bonus. These bonuses can serve as a guarantee for a secure future. Unfortunately some people become devastated, even in their young years because of this.

A third reason for the hard working Taiwanese, could be that a lot of parents feel that they have to work hard in order to be able to support their children with a life in dignity and a good education. The hard work is done because the parents will need the financial support from their kids in their old age, which otherwise can be somewhat difficult since the superannuation benefit in Taiwan is small compared to what we are used to.

According to engineer Hardy Fang, who is recently employed in Hsinchu Science Park and works 55 hours every week, he is working little compared to the other employees who work around 70 hours every week without overtime pay. In order to achieve the aim of projects everyone is working extra, nobody goes home earlier since all colleagues and the boss is as well working overtime. Since no one complains about too severe workload, he does not do that either.

Furthermore few companies serve their employees with as many days of vacation as we are used to. For example at the company engineer Fang is employed at, no one have any vacation during the first year of employment. During the second year everyone receives 7 days and from the third year and on, everyone receives only 14 days of vacation every year.

Moreover we can not omit to mention the aspect of “guanxi” for the success of the corporate culture in Taiwan. Wherever you are in the world, in order to be a successful company, you need to have a reliable network. This network is in the Chinese world called guanxi, which means relations and refers to complicated personal networks. Guanxi is essential for the Taiwanese culture and plays a much more significant role for the business than we are used to. Good guanxi gives a major advantage when trying to establish a company in Taiwan. Due to this aspect many Taiwanese businessmen have been very successful, at the same time as some foreigners have failed due to lack of guanxi.

ConclusionThe small and medium sized enterprises play an important role for the success of Taiwan. These companies take the advantage of their size, in order to quickly respond to changes in the market. Flexibility in time and space, as well as methods of production,

makes these companies competitive in a proper market. The proper market was established when crucial investment was made to develop a high tech electronic industry. The growth of the high tech SMEs have been facilitated due to the free and open market as well as strong network connections that have been developed in the essence of guanxi.

When the course to follow was settled by the government, the rest was handled by the culture. Besides the vital role of guanxi, we can not neglect the aspect that traditionally the Taiwanese work very hard, to receive bonuses, to be as good employees as their workmates and mainly to be able to serve their children with opportunities for a good education and a prosperous life. Due to these cultural benefits for creating small and medium companies, especially in the high tech area, the corporate culture of Taiwan will surely continue to be prosperous and successful for many years to come.

Special Thanks to:

Barry Ta-Hsien Lo. Ph.D General Director Office of President at ITRICEO at Spring Foundation of NCTU

Hardy K. L. Fang. Senior EngineerAU Optronics Corp, LCD Process Tech. Div

Photo by P

er Sandström

Engineer Hardy Fang is one of the many brilliant and hardworking employees in Hsinchu Science Park.

Keji in Mandarin Chinese means “science and technology” and Yuan means “garden” or “park”. Ke Ji Yuan is the term for Science Park.


of people comes during the Chinese New Year. The reason for this is the Chinese tradition of trying the luck during the beginning of the New Year. (Actually a large part of the New Year celebration revolves around how to get good luck during the coming year.)

The comparison with the real Las Vegas is not as ridiculous as it first may sound. The fact is that the total gaming revenue for Macau and Las Vegas doesn’t differ that much. In the first two months of this year Macau’s gaming revenue was US$ 831 million, compared to US$ 947 million in Las Vegas. Last year the 16 casinos in Macau got gaming revenues of totally US$ 5.3 billion and 35 percent of those revenues went to the government in taxes. Remarkably almost 36 percent of Macau’s GDP for 2004 was accounted by gaming (including casinos, horse and dog racing and lotteries)

Nevertheless, all that glitters isn’t gold. The casinos have also a downside for Macau, or at least for the people living there. There exist speculations that the casinos are used for money laundering by big players from triads with illegal activity. Members of the triads participate in the casinos’ VIP rooms where the big money is. The VIP rooms accounts for 50 to 70 percent of Macau’s casino revenues.

The growth in gambling has also led to a rapidly increasing prostitution problem. Another thing is that the streets where not built with the capacity to swallow the traffic the casinos generate, so congested streets and not enough taxis are something that the inhabitants have to live with. But the worst thing is probably that the living costs have increased for most of the population.

One can think whatever one want of the casinos, but the fact is that the gambling and the number of casinos on Macau are growing. It will probably still continue to do so during the following years, or as Anthony Carter, chief executive of Galaxy Casino in Macau, says: “Don’t be surprised if sometimes within the next 10 years you hear Las Vegas referred to in America as the ‘Macau of the U.S.’ ”

Photo by M

agnus Lundvall

Ruins of St. Paul’s remind of the Portuguese colonization time and have today become a symbol for Macau.

What is the reason that 16 million persons visited a really small place with less than 450 000 inhabitants last year? The answer is simple: This is a place in East Asia where gambling is legalized and where it therefore exist 16 casinos.

Macau consists of two small islands and a peninsula attached to mainland China. The total area of Macau summarize to 25 sq km which is only a third of the area of the Hong Kong Island located 65 km away. This small area of land is truly a place where east meets west. Macau was colonized by the Portuguese during the 16th century and was actually the first European settlement in the Far East. The colony remained until Portugal returned Macau to China as a Special Administrative Region (SAR) on 20 December 1999. In other words, Macau today benefits from the principle of “one country, two systems” just like Hong Kong.As a former Portuguese colony Macau has a very mixed culture with a rich cultural heritage from both Asia and Europe. In Macau you will find old churches, fortresses and ruins of them, but also the traditional Chinese temples. The architecture of the buildings and the looks of the streets will reveal that the Portuguese had a big influence on the place.

Macau:

Asia’s Own Las Vegas Magnus Lundvall, editor


Photo by M

agnus Lundvall

Sands casino is one of the biggest casinos on Macau.

Gambling was first legalized in Macau in 1847. The main reason for this was that the Portuguese government realized that they were starting to loose out to Hong Kong in the two traditionally main income generating areas, trade and shipping. This legalization of gambling has made Macau to what it is today.In present time thousands of people are coming from Hong Kong and mainland China, where gambling is illegal, to be able to try their luck in the casinos in Macau. Last year approximately 16 million persons visited Macau, which is a huge number for a place with only 450000 residents. A particular large number


As a consulate Anna-Lisa has different job assignments depending on what is happening in the area at the moment. The main work assignments include visa and passport affairs such as organizing visas for students from Hong Kong that wish to study in Sweden, keep the Swedish government and The Ministry for Foreign Affairs updated on what happens in the region in questions concerning for example human rights, politics and economy, the third main assignment is to promote Sweden as a country in Hong Kong. An example of success is within the area of education where approximately 800 students from Hong Kong study in Sweden every year.

There are other organizations that have similar work areas as the General Consulate such as the Swedish Cambers of Commerce and the Swedish Trade Council. The General Consulate has close cooperation with these organizations in order to provide the best service for Swedes in Hong Kong and the people of Hong Kong with interest in Sweden.We discussed the situation of today and the differences between “before 1997” when Hong Kong belonged to Great Britain and “now” when it is a part of China. Anna-Lisa told us that there has been some disturbances, but not as much as was first feared, due to the simple fact that China has not intervened as much as was expected. Hong Kong has the status as a special administrative region (SAR) and is able to govern without too much interference. There is more or less only one big thing that China has objections with and that is Hong Kong’s wish to have general election 2007 and discussions are held to reach a solution.

For more information visit: http://www.swedenabroad.com

The Swedish Trade CouncilThe Swedish Trade council puspose is to help Swedish companies grow internationally. They work on the behalf of the

Anna-Lisa Trulsson Evidon, consul at the General Consulate of Sweden in Hong Kong.

Sweden was the first western country to establish diplomatic relations with Peoples Republic of China. This was done 9th of May 1950. Today PRC and Sweden has a good relationship and the trade has grown to Sweden’s most important trading partner in Asia. In 2003 the trade with China represented 2.6 per cent of Sweden’s total foreign trade. The Swedish government has many organizations which has the purpose of facilitating business across borders. Examples are Embassy, General Consulate, Trade Council, ITPS and ISA.

The embassy is an organization that works mainly as a link between two countries. General Consulate is another form of representation in a foreign country, with the main purpose to promote the home country. The Swedish Trade Council helps Swedish companies to grow internationally and foreign companies to conduct business with Sweden. ISA works to increase the number of foreign investments in Sweden. ITPS is an organization that analyzes the development of the market in a country.

These are just some of the organizations in the area and just a limited description of them. For more information about a particular organization, the web address for each organization is listed after the corresponding text.

General consulate of Sweden in Hong KongA consulate is a countries representation in a city in a foreign country. Normally there is one embassy in the country and a number of consulate in different cities. Many countries are only represented by a consulate or have no representation at all.

General consulate of Sweden in Hong Kong was established in 1954. Hong Kong is an important commercial hub in the South East Asia region. Today about 130 Swedish companies are stationed in Hong Kong. The consulate aims to promote Sweden in a broad sense to further develop relations between Hong Kong and Sweden according to Peter Ekelund Consul General in Hong Kong.

One of the big projects that the General Consulate works with is the It’Sweden project. It’Sweden aims at boosting the image of Sweden in Hong Kong, and promote Swedish products, design, music, food and Sweden as a tourist destination according to the General Consulates homepage.

During our visit at the General Consulate in Hong Kong 14/12-2004 we met with Anna-Lisa Trulsson Evidon who works as a consulate at the office in Hong Kong.

Mainland China and Taiwan:

Swedish Company Aid and Support

Charlotte Andreasson

charlotte.andreasson(at)asia.chalmers.se

Per Sandström

per.sandstrom(at)asia.chalmers.se

Yan Po So

yanpo.so(at)asia.chalmers.se


Photo by A

nders Frick

View over Hong Kong’s business district.

Swedish Industry and Commerce and the Swedish government. They offer companies business studies, market plans, export strategies, market surveys, competition analyses and advice in product modification for a specific market. The Swedish trade Council is represented in 40 different countries and has about 350 employees. The Trade Council works closely with other government organizations like embassies, consulates and the Chamber of Commerce.

Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It was established in 1995 by the Swedish government to attract and facilitate foreign direct investment. Foreign companies considering setting up business in Sweden can, free of charge, obtain information and assistance from ISA and its network of international contacts. ISA provides details about Swedish business conditions and investment opportunities as well as introductions to government agencies, local authorities and business organizations.

ISA and Chinese-Swedish TradeChina and Sweden have been trading extensively since the 17th century, when the Swedish East India Company established a trading network in East Asia. China is now Sweden’s largest Asian trade partner. Since China’s membership of the World Trade Organization, Chinese companies are encouraged by the government policy to invest abroad, these companies are becoming major foreign investors and ISA is now expanding in China to capitalize on increasing foreign investment by these companies.

Invest in Sweden Agency started operation in China during the fall of 2002 and now has offices in Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai; where ISA’s Chief Representative, Mr. Eddie Chen, is assigned. ISA have five employees in China, all of them native Chinese and they work in a close cooperation with the Swedish Embassy in Beijing and the Consulates General in Shanghai, Hong Kong and Guangzhou, to inform Chinese enterprises about business and investment opportunities in Sweden.

Chinese information and communication technology (ICT) companies show a growing interest for expanding internationally, finding new technology and exploring new markets. This creates business opportunities for both Chinese and Swedish companies. Therefore, ISA initially concentrate on sectors such as ICT, electronics and automotive/telematics – sectors where both Sweden and China holds competitive strengths and where Swedish companies have invested heavily in China. Thus, ISA plays a crucial role as building relations on the Chinese market is hard and often a lengthy process for a foreign company. ISA also assume that other sectors would be of interest for Chinese enterprises, sectors such as biotechnology and wood processing and trade are a number of other sectors they are working with. “By locating in Sweden, Chinese high-tech companies benefit from complementary strengths in information and communications technology (ICT), a strong record of innovation and R&D, wireless communication and other technological clusters, an internationally oriented economy, easy access to EU markets and many other advantages”, Kai Hammerich, President & Director-General, Invest in Sweden Agency.

Chinese Investment in SwedenChinese investment in Sweden has greatly accelerated since 2001. China’s Huawei Technologies and ZTE Corporation have

The Swedish Trade Council in TaipeiIn Taiwan the Swedish Trade Council works mainly with Swedish companies that wish to establish or expand their business in Taiwan, but they also work with Taiwanese companies that have an interest in Swedish companies and products. The two biggest areas of business are export consulting and export information. The Swedish Trade Council has been represented in Taiwan since 1983 and has an office in Taipei, where five employees who work as consultants in different area of business.

The biggest projects for the Taipei office right now are:

IT-East Asia, which has the purpose of establishing Swedish companies on the IT-market in Taiwan, South Korea and China. And also encourage Taiwanese companies to make investments, within this area, in Sweden.

Wood Project, which assist Swedish Sawmills to find Taiwanese buyers and business partners in the whole of Asia. An expansion of this project is planed in order to successively enhance the sale to include more refined Swedish wood products.

IPO project, the purpose of the IPO project is to help small and medium size Swedish companies to reduce cost by identifying quality suppliers of mechanical parts, accessories and machine tools.

For more information visit: http://www.swedishtrade.se/taiwan/

Invest in Sweden Agency – ISAInvest in Sweden Agency is a government agency under the


opened major Swedish R&D centers, while other investors have included the China International Travel Service, Lizi Industrial Group, Minmetals North-Europe and Tsingtao Brewery Group.

After investigating several locations in northern Europe, Huawei Technologies established its European R&D center in Stockholm in 2001. Huawei develops and manufactures communications equipment and solutions. In 2001, it earned revenues of USD 3.1 billion and employed 22,000 people worldwide. In addition to its Chinese and Swedish R&D centers, Huawei carries out R&D in India, Russia and the U.S.

China’s largest listed telecoms equipment manufacturer, ZTE Corporation, opened a new, wholly owned R&D center in Stockholm 2002. ZTE also operates nine R&D centers in China, three in the U.S., one in Chile and one in South Korea.

ISA has identified around 60 Chinese companies that they want to work with.

For more information visit: www.isa.se/

Swedish Institute for Growth Policy Studies, ITPSThe Swedish Institute for Growth Policy Studies, ITPS (Institutet för Tillväxtpolitiska Studier), is a fairly new government agency that was founded the 1st of January 2001. ITPS is responsible for global surveillance for economic growth politics, evaluations to increase the knowledge about business and politic changes and related parts of the official statistics.

The ITPS office in Beijing opened together with Vinnova, Energimyndigheterna and Nutek. The focus of the office is Information Technology, telecom and environment technology. The task for ITPS in Beijing is to make it easier for research and development cooperation to establish relations to companies and research institutes in China, and to simplify knowledge exchange between the countries. Beijing has one of ITPS’s five head quarters, the other are located in Tokyo, Washington, Brussels and Los Angeles.

The Swedish Institute for Growth Policy Studies in Beijing main purpose is to provide a superior knowledge base to estimate the future in the areas of technology and economy. Growth policy is defined as any policy designed to increase wealth in the country by creating better opportunities for individuals to improve their skills and know-how and for business to grow. ITPS provides supporting material to help policy makers formulate policies for economic growth.

Magnus Breidne working at ITPS (Institutet för Tillväxt-politiska Studier), has a two year contract to do a study on how Chinas future market will look like and which areas the focus will be; the study will be made from a technical and innovation perspective, as Magnus’ title is technical Attaché and he has diplomatic status, his background is information technology. Magnus has been in Beijing for one year now and is now getting a hold on

what is happening in the area. Magnus was the first one to arrive in Beijing but soon two more will be hired to work with the same issues. Their assignment is to survey which areas in China Sweden could have an interest in, and the other way around. The biggest interest right now is wireless communication.

Magnus is assigned to understand Chinas economic growth

process as the situation is not the same as in Sweden, and he is surveying how China is working with innovation and in which areas the research is making progress.

In China most of the research is done by the universities under governmental economical aid but this is changing and more and more companies are contributing to push the research even further. China has many prominent researchers whom are working hard to give China leading position in the future technical innovations. Magnus tries to survey the areas China puts focus on.

Magnus is mostly occupied with analyzing the future, and works with contacts within both University and business areas. ITPS has close collaboration with Swedish Innovation Agency who helps Chinese companies establish themselves in Sweden.

China is working hard to enter the global market, which makes this a golden opportunity to focus their interest towards Sweden. The people that Magnus has had discussions with have a god impression of Sweden, a lot of Swedish companies enhance the fact that they are Swedish in their marketing.

Sweden has despite its size succeeded well to make it self heard in the world, a lot of countries see a future in collaborating with Sweden, but we have many competitors when we are trying to negotiate with China. But China is a growing market and has room for many players.

For more information about ITPS visit: http://www.itps.se/in_

english/index.htm

Magnus Breidne, technical Attaché at ITPS


Shandong – the mountain in the east – is one of mainland China’s richest provinces. It is leading in areas such as cotton and wheat production, gold and diamond mining. From a business point of view, big factories with famous brands are dominating the province. Now, the local government tries to get attraction from foreign investors, especially from Taiwan.

Maybe you have heard about the refrigerator and washing machine producer Haier or the electronic brand Hisense. Both have their domicile in Qingdao, a city in the Shangdong province’s eastern part.

When the Germans came to the city Qingdao about one hundred years ago, they brought many manners and customs from Europe. A brewery was started, which later was going to be occupied by the Japanese. Finally, the brewery became Chinese. During many years it

served for almost all (98%) of China’s beer export. Its political importance may be explained by the beer’s importance for as well the Germans and the Japanese as well as for the Chinese.

Olympic Games for people In three years from now, it is time for China to host the Olympic Games. For the Chinese people in general, this has been given attention in such way as training equipment has been placed out at some strategic places – to encourage performing healthy activities and, of course, to promote the Olympics. Also to mention, new infrastructure and a lot of new apartments is going to be built – all to make a good impression of China in 2008.

Hoist sail in Qingdao The Olympic sailings will be held in the sea, just outside the Qingdao. And that seems to be a good choice; the wind is very strong, as soon as one leaves the harbor. Also, the spectators would have a wonderful view from land. A receipt for success! The Shandong province is China’s second biggest, in terms of citizens; Over 90 million people are living here. The two biggest cities are Jinan and Qingdao, where the later has been elected several times as the one of the best cities to live in, in China.

Investing in East China:

Shandong, the Richest Province Anders Frick

anders.frick(at)asia.chalmers.se

”It is factory that manufacture products and soul that creates brands”, says a sign at the entrance to Haier’s headquarter. That’s true. Even though China is a communist country, the capitalism is flourishing. The local governments are doing their best to attract foreign, especially Taiwanese, investors. The baits are low salaries, good geographic position and the key factor – good political connections. To be successful in China, it is very important to be good friend with the people who are in charge, the member’s of the Party. Without their blessing, getting success will be hard – at least that’s what history has shown.

Brewery with important historic roleAlso in Qingdao, there is a famous brewery. It was founded in 1903 by German settlers. Today Tsingtao Beer is China’s biggest brewery. It has also played an important historic role in the political game in the area.

Hisense is not only developing computers, cellular phones, TV’s and musical instruments, but also - among others - traffic surveillance systems.

Photo by A

nders FrickP

hoto by Anders Frick

The eastern province Shandong is home to over 90 million people making it the second largest in China.


The recent economic boom experienced by China raises some questions regarding the energy use. From an oversupply problem in the 1990s, China now has to tackle brownouts and rationing of the available electricity. During the last years the frequency of brownouts has been reduced from one or two days a week to less then a few hours. Still, the situation is likely to get much worse as the China economy is growing at a stunning rate. In terms of overall energy supply, China has resources to meet rapid economic growth. However, the relationship between required energy source and available, is slipping. Coal exists in abundance, while petroleum is experiencing shortages.

China:

Regarding China’s Energy Consumption Pontus All

pontus.all(at)asia.chalmers.se

China is already the largest producer and exporter of coal, and is largely dependent on coal as its primary source for electricity. Coal energy contributes well over 62% of China’s electricity needs. The problem is that even though coal energy is recognized by the Chinese government as a serious threat, both to public health and apparently less important, to the environment, the strong dependence on coal is not likely to be altered in the future. Acid rainfall is increasingly a huge problem for a greater part of China, a problem which probably will escalate. China rather meets its goal of being energy self-sufficient and not rely on imported energy, such as oil. This could be easily understood, since China has been an importer of oil since the last 10 years and with the currently high price for oil, this puts a damper on the economy as a whole. In 2015, China is expected to face a shortage of between 6-8.5 millions barrels per day. A hefty amount, to say the least. How does this comply with China’s signature of the Kyoto protocol? It does, since China as a developing country has

Nuclear and coal power side by side.

not committed to reduce green houses gases. Whether China will sign a new Kyoto, scheduled in 2012, remains highly uncertain.

For the environment, all news is not bad even tough the outlook might best be described as depressing. The Chinese government has started a crackdown on polluting and illegal coal mines and closing some regarded as unsafe. This has lead to a steep decline in coal production, if the production will not be increased to a BAU (Business As Usual) level, this could mean that China might be forced to reevaluate their energy sector. Small changes might already be underway, during a recent conference in Shanghai, China unveiled that it will commit itself of building 32 new reactors by the year 2020. However, despite the large effort, the nuclear energy will only reach 4-5% of total energy consumption, if their ambitious plans are executed.

The larger increase in energy output except the use of coal is expected to derive from hydroelectric power. The most famous example would of course be the largest building project up to this date, the Three Gorges Dam. Construction cost is officially said to be around 25 $ BUSD, but estimates suggest an even higher amount. When completed, it will generate 19.2 GW while easen the effect of flooding. More dams will most likely be constructed, and has a high energy potential. It semms that nothing comes for free, since dams may have a negative impact on the environment. 2 new dams have been constructed on the Mekong river, and another 12 is under consideration, which is likely to damage the fragile Mekongriver seriously.

Even if all available hydrapower is used, estimates has it that it can only contribute to 1/3 of China’s energy need. The larger chunk still has to consist of coal powerplants. To conclude, China is likely to succeed in its ambitious plans for generating electricity to its companies and residents, but to an increasingly high cost for the environment and public health.

Coal power will still be the main energy source in China.


Asia:

Rising Tension in the Taiwan Strait Oskar Hagberg, editor


Recently the cross strait issue in south east Asia has taken a turn for the worse. The anti-secession law, passed March 14 by China’s National People’s Party has not gone by unnoticed in the international community. The new law provides a legal basis for the Chinese People’s Liberation Army to use non-peaceful measures against Taiwan should the island declare independence.

independence before the end of his term in 2008.

Beijing considers Taiwan a breakaway province, not a state, that must be returned to the fold, by force if necessary. Today an estimated 600 ballistic missiles have been deployed within range of Taiwan and 200 more cruise missiles will be deployed by the end of this year. The P.L.A. is developing supersonic cruise missiles that will render Taiwan’s currently deployed Patriot anti-missile batteries incapable of intercepting an attack. In addition the P.L.A. is expanding its submarine fleet and will probably have a third more than now in a period of five years. China has met some obstacles in its military modernization though. Because of the international impact of the anti-secession law, the EU has decided to delay its plan to lift its arms embargo. Military analysts say the P.L.A. aims to develop capabilities to perform a decapitation attack which can force Taiwan to capitulate quickly without a bloody invasion. This kind of attack makes an American intervention more difficult. The island must be able to hold out on its own until U.S. forces arrive.

The military development in China and the passing of the anti-secession law has raised concerns in Washington and the United States has reassessed its previous conclusion that China did not posses a serious threat to the global balance of power. According to U.S. policy in the matter neither China nor Taiwan should take any hostile actions that would change the status quo.

A factor that adds to the tensions in Asia is Japan’s increasing strategic cooperation with the US as well as its recent defence upgrade. The US-Japan alliance is a comfort for Taiwan who looks at the US as a balancing factor in the region but China feels increasingly threatened. Japan has previously been very vague on the Taiwan issue but in recent years Tokyo has been more clear and says that they will not tolerate China’s military invasion of Taiwan. Over the years China has reluctantly accepted the United States involvement in the cross strait relations, but Japan’s contribution to the issue is difficult for the Chinese leadership to swallow. In addition, Japan has identified China as a threat and the country, according to the new defence plan, needs to be “closely watched”. What complicates the matter further is the fact that China since last year is Japan’s largest trading partner.

Some say the efforts by the US-Japan alliance to stop a Chinese invasion may be counter-productive. Both US and Japan should work with the EU on effective regulations of arms sales to China while limiting the growing weapons sales from US to Taiwan.

In 1992 a consensus was reached between Beijing and Taipei where both sides agreed to their own interpretations of the “one-China” principle. At that time the ruling parties on both sides of the strait aimed at a reunification. The consensus led to improving bilateral relations but dialogs were broken of in 1999 when Taiwan’s then-president redefined the relations as “special state to state” ties. The situation became even more strained when the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) broke the Kuomintang’s (KMT) 51-year grip on power in the 2000 presidential election. The DPP president was re-elected in 2004.

The nationalist KMT party ruled the mainland until 1949 when Mao Zedong’s Communists won a bloody civil war and forced the KMT to move their government to Taiwan, where they vowed to fight their way back to the mainland, oust the Communists and unify China. In Taiwan the KMT ruled under marshal law until 1980 when the island rapidly became more democratic and the government began relaxing restrictions. As mentioned the KMT lost the presidency after five decades to the DPP who never shared the KMT’s dream of unification. Instead they believe Taiwanese voters should decide the island’s future and formal independence should be an option. Analysts view the anti-secession bill approved by China’s parliament on March 14 as a way to hinder Taiwan’s president from pushing for formal

The United States of Amerika, Japan, China and Taiwan, the mayor actors in the Taiwan strait issue.


In exchange China could halt its missile deployment and other military build-ups across the Taiwan Strait.

In light of this development the leader of the opposing party in Taiwan, the KMT, has done something that he once would have been jailed or even executed for. In the end of April he flew, on invitation, to mainland China on a week-long tour that ended in the handshake with the Chinese president. This highly politically charged visit has been labelled a “civilian trip” but the KMT aims at initiate dialogues that hopefully can lower the tensions caused by the anti-secession law and start some kind of bridge building. The ruling party’s opinion in the matter is that with this very controversially timed visit Taiwan gives the impression to the international community, that a part of the island accepts the anti-secession law. The president of Taiwan has warned the leader of KMT that he will be charged with treason, should he sign any deals without the government’s authorization. The ruling party, DPP, has also been invited to dialogues with the Chinese government but only if they recognize the 1992 consensus

and abandon their thoughts about independence. The KMT chairman’s trip to China was preceded by the vice chairman of KMT’s delegation who negotiated, without authorization, on economic sweeteners from the Chinese government. The sweeteners where aimed at the agricultural southern Taiwan, offering attractive policies for import of fruit and vegetable as well as assistance for Taiwanese farmers to invest in China. This effectively undermines the Taiwanese president’s support base in the south part of the island.

Today few of the rich business execs in Taiwan support the DPP. China buys three-quarters of Taiwan’s exports and Taiwanese companies have invested around $100 billion over the last 20 years. Beijing’s tactic is to support executives open to China and put pressure and restrictions on those who support independance. So, if the money from Taiwan doesn’t change direction and the dependance on investments in China remains there would probably not be a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. There will be no need.

Asia:

Living With the Dragon Next Door Pontus Claesson

pontus.claesson(at)asia.chalmers.se

The Formosa Strait is one of the world’s most militarized zones in the world. With heavy missiles pointing on either side of the Strait and with rigid political opinions from both the Mainland and Taiwan, the issue is quite complex.

During 1995 and 1996 the Mainland accomplished large-scale military exercises in the Formosa Strait, including the firing of unarmed missiles close to Taiwan’s two main ports. The President of the USA, Bill Clinton responded by sending Taiwan the back up from the US fleet, two aircraft-carrier battle groups, watching over the maneuvers at international water. This was the biggest naval deployment and supply of nuclear weapon Asia seen since Vietnam.

Since 1995 the Mainland China has been engaged in a rapid military build-up on the coastline toward Taiwan. China has not fired any more missiles since, but has positioned a large number of truck-mounted short-range ballistic missiles (srbms) along the coast. Longer-range missiles that could target Japan or islands in the Pacific have also increased in deployment. The latest report according to the Taipei Times and The Economist this year is the development of land-attack cruise missiles, which could be fired across the Strait (160 km) and penetrate the most sophisticated antimissile defence that Taiwan is acquiring from America. The Mainland China has also been buying an array of Russian weaponry, from SU-27 and SU-30 air fighters to quiet Kilo-

class submarines and Sovremenny-class destroyers, says The Economist. These ships are carrying Sunburn anti-ship missiles, which is the ones America’s navy fear most, says Peter Brooks, a former senior defence official in the Bush administration, in the same article. The armament Mainland China has today can lock on Taiwanese aircraft as soon as they take off from the island.

In military terms Taiwan is still an enemy to count with, despite less area. Taiwan has still the technical superiority of weaponry, even if that might risk to be overtaken by the Mainland China

The typical Asian dragons has the body of a snake and differs some from our western winged dragons

Photo by M

agnus Lundvall


in a few years. B. Bremner & M. Kovac is mention in an article by the BusinessWeek, this year that Taiwan’s army is roughly on par with the Mainland China’s, counting striking power. This, together with the Americans vow of intervenes in the event of a conflict.

Kurt Campbell, the Pentagon’s senior official responsible for the crisis 1995-96, says the biggest cautionary tale was how difficult America found it to communicate with the Taiwanese and to understand their capabilities and intentions, (The Economist, 2005). Sources say that China had the same problem with liaison, in their own organization, during the naval maneuvers 1996. How effective both parts are today hard to predict, but in the case of the Mainland China, no large-scale naval exercises been carried out since the -90’s.

What is the probability of an invasion after all? Even if both sides has the world’s most high-tech developed armament and

even if both side has the capability of nuclear striking power, is the main weapon in this conflict more non-dramatic. In a series of articles in The Economist and in BusinessWeek, early this year the predictions are that the capital and cash-flow will judge however a war is current or not. The Mainland China is depended on stabile growth many years ahead and the case of a war with Taiwan are going to cost, even if striking power is impressive. A war with Taiwan would certainty risk the further growth of China. Taiwan on the other side is depend on the Mainland, however, who buys 75% of Taiwan’s total export these days. Taiwan’s export to China is around US$ 40,5 billion and the import around US$ 10,5 billion. With this in mind, the question, as familiar is not easy to solve. The issue is more than just political standpoints; the cash-flow will decide who is the winner in the arms race, not political values.

Oskar Hagberg, editor


High-Tech Japan:

Osaka - The Robot City

After a decade of economic decline the economy in the Japanese port-city Osaka was stagnant and something needed to be done. The Osaka city government came up with a theme that would involve as many people as possible. Namely “Second generation” robots.

Today’s industrial robots are used in situations and places out of bounds for humans and their shape and form are usually quite alien. The “second generation” robots are meant to co-exist with humans, performing tasks as house-sitting, various hospital duties or help with tedious household work.

Japan has emerged as a leading maker of robots that can act independently and perform various complex tasks. Most familiar are the robot-pets such as Sony’s Aibo or Hitachi’s Asimo but also Hospi that for instance delivers X-ray charts in hospitals or Banryu that lets homeowners check their house remotely using real-time video feed.

Osaka city has paid for a new robot-laboratory in the central area of the city and will continue expansion of facilities for robot-development in the next few years. They hope robot developers worldwide will bring their ideas to this new Robot City and turn Osaka into the Silicon Valley of the robot industry.

An example of the city government’s support to robot development is the 2.4 kg, 39 cm tall soccer playing humanoid named VisiON. Team Osaka, which consists of researchers at Osaka University, two robot firms and an aircraft parts manufacturer developed the robot from scratch in only six months thanks to government subsidize and managed to win

the Robot Word Cup soccer finals 2004. VisiON’s skills have been trimmed during the past year and the robot will be up against robots from 35 countries in the next tournament that will take place in Osaka in July. The purpose of the competitions in RoboCup is to foster artificial intelligence and robotics research by providing a standard problem where a wide range of technologies can compete, the problem in this case being that of getting a ball in between two goal posts.

Last year’s winner of the humanoid category in the RoboCup finals in Lisbone, Portugal 2004 featured an omnidirectional sensor giving it a 360-degree visibility.

Asia Magazine #5

Documents

Transcript of Asia Magazine #5