Referendum plan worries investors

This article was written by Kevin Chen and published by The Taipei Times on June 28, 2003.

President Chen Shui-bian's proposal to hold a referendum on scrapping the Fourth Nuclear Power Plant sparked concern among business and academic groups about its impact on the economy. Foreign business leaders criticized the referendum plan as potentially damaging to the nation's investment climate. In the words of Gus Sorenson, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei: "As we in the business community have always said, Taiwan needs to keep in mind [that] businessmen like predictability. A contract that is changed again and again shows a lack of predictability. This is not good for the investment climate."