Taiwan tells start-ups to shun mainland China and go to Japan instead, amid supply-chain decoupling
- Head of Taiwanese government-backed group says shift to Japan is being encouraged as ‘one of the new government policies’
- But some say Taiwanese investors will objectively assess the long-term benefits and find that mainland China is still an economically sound destination
Taiwan is nudging its small and burgeoning companies to expand in Japan rather than mainland China, in a fresh sign of global supply-chain decoupling amid Sino-US tensions.
The island’s domestic start-ups are being encouraged to enter the Japanese consumer market or partner with companies from the neighbouring Asian economy, according to the heads of two Taiwanese government-backed organisations who spoke with the Post.
They also said government agencies are not allowed to steer start-ups toward mainland China, even though it has been the major offshore landing spot for Taiwanese capital since the 1980s.
“We’ve contacted a lot of Japanese accelerators to come into the Taiwan market, and we’ll have start-ups go to them,” said Jay Yang, deputy director general of the government-backed Market Intelligence & Consulting Institute in Taipei. “It’s one of the new government policies.
“We encourage Taiwanese start-ups to cooperate with the Japanese, and we’re working on that because it’s an ageing country and needs a lot of fresh blood to work with them.”
Taiwan’s tilt toward Japan follows efforts in the West over the past few years to diversify supply chains away from mainland China.