Ministry of Transportation and Communications, Taiwan
Transportation and communications are basic necessities of daily life and the foundation of national competitiveness. Taiwan’s transportation and communications have developed to the extent that, in general, all major trunk facilities are in place and the emphasis of construction has gradually evolved from the implementation of massive projects to a more mature concern for service quality. Besides continuing to “fill in the gaps†and reinforce key links in the overall network, in the future we must focus our efforts on coordination and integration of the complementation function of the different transportation systems. At the same time, we must use modern information and communications technology to boost the efficiency of Taiwan’s transportation systems, and thus optimize the quality of our lives, by making them “smarter.â€
In addition to transportation services, our tourism, postal, telecommunications, and weather services are also facing challenges of transition:
*The policy of opening tourists to Taiwan from mainland China offers an extremely important transitional opportunity to Taiwan’s tourism industry. We hope to use this opportunity to enrich the content of Taiwan tourism, enhance service quality, and improve the island’s overall tourism environment.
*In the area of postal services, and conventional postal services in particular, we will strive to find ways to realize their huge potentiality in the realm of logistics services. In the area of telecommunications services, the Ministry must carry out its role in resources management and industrial support.
*In weather services, we must work toward the goals of further filling out and maintaining our observatory network while continuously improving our forecasting technology.
To make full use of Taiwan’s regional geographic advantage and lay a foundation for the island’s future competitiveness, our “Twelve Love Taiwan Construction Projects†contains the concept of developing the Taoyuan, Taichung, and Kaohsiung areas into regional shipping and logistics centers with special designated functions. The development of airports and seaports holds a key position within this concept; their development, and the development of surrounding special zones, has a complementary relationship analogous to that of egg yolk and egg white. We will promote and assure the continuous development of the “yolksâ€(airports and seaports) so as to provide abundant motive force for land development and socioeconomic activity in the “whites†(surrounding special zones).
The Ministry of Transportation and Communications is currently faced with a large number of tasks, most of which are exceedingly complicated and will require much time to complete. Those issues that involve major reforms to basic systems require not the sudden burst of a 100-meter sprint but the perseverance of a marathon race, so we must make long-term preparations by completing essential planning first and then setting an order of priorities for further implementation. For issues that require immediate resolution, we should overcome the problems intelligently and exhibit our ability to perform quickly and vigorously.
Let us all devote ourselves to the creation of a better future for Taiwan’s transportation and communications facilities and services!
