CB: What changes do you expect to see as a result of Ma Ying-jeou’s victory in the presidential election when it comes to investment and business relations between Taiwan and China?

LTS: I don’t think we can say the election resulted in a change in people’s idea about cross-strait investment as people have different ideas on the issue. However, it’s safe to say that due to the election, this issue has become more of a concern for the general public and a topic for discussion.

The Mainland Affairs Council commissions regular surveys and one of our latest surveys was conducted after the election. The results showed that 44.4% of those surveyed thought that restrictions on Taiwanese businesses investing in China should be stricter, whereas 41.5% thought the government should relax the said restrictions and another 7.3% thought there is not need to change the current restrictions. Compared with the result of the opinion polls conducted before the election, there was an almost 4% increase in supporting the idea of loosening the restrictions. However, whether this change was caused by the election result still needs to be observed. During the election campaign, the KMT party proposed a number of measures for opening up cross strait investment avenues, so it is widely expected that there will be some relaxation and adjustment in the future, but many things cannot be carried out by unilateral openingup measures. People should aware that there are many challenges and unpredictable factors involved in opening up Taiwan to China. In that sense, I would advise the new administration to address this issue in a cautious manner.