Republic of China in Taiwan is the world's 14th largest trading nation, and has accumulated the world's third largest foreign reserves amount of US$83.5 billion. In 1997, the economic growth reached 6.8% and its per capita GNP stood at US$13,233.
Taiwan foreign trade hit the highest record to US$236.5 billion in 1997. Exports topped US$122.1 billion has played a vital role in the economy while the import was US$114.4 billion. Trade surplus surged/plunged to US$7.7 billion, down 43.5% from 1996. (13.5 billion in 1996).
Although the Taiwan government still bans direct trade with Mainland China, according to the ROC's Mainland Affair Council, the value of indirect trade between Taiwan and Mainland China amounted to US$24.5 billion in 1997.
In addition to the government plan to develop Taiwan into an Asia-pacific Regional Operations Center, its efforts to join the World Trade Organization constituted another major factor that kept manufacturing, services and construction sectors recession-resistant. To make our nation significantly better able to compete with the rest of the world, the government has set the target of being one of the world's five most competitive nations by the turn of this century.
