The increase in the fire rates had occurred as labor costs soared in Taiwan and as many companies shut down their shoe, textile and other labor-intensive factories moved to China. "Evidence of arson often is destroyed in the blaze," commented the mentioned official in charge of fire investigations. More than 40,000 Taiwanese factories had relocated to China in the past decade, and many of them moved in the mid-1990s, according to official statistics. Much of the relocation was around 1996, when insurance firms paid NT$ 7.2 billion (US$210 million) for fire premiums – nearly triple the amount in 1993. Also 5,480 fires – mostly at small factories – had been reported at that time. Many of the Taiwanese businesses had gone bankrupt after moving to China, where profits were often eroded by red tape, official corruption, shaky business plans and failing markets. Some scientists believe some of those broken down Taiwanese companies also resorted to arson.According to Central Police University Professor Ms. Chren Chin-lien the numbers of fires in China soared in 1997. She suspected Taiwanese factory owners had set many. The total number of fires in China was reportedly about 150,000 in 1997 – three times as many as in 1990.
Asian Wall Street Journal, Hong Kong, 24 June 2002
Dialogue also contains some interesting photographs and articles on sustainable development and construction on the island. Shown below is a local elementary school:
Technorati: [Taiwan]
A few quibbles:
ReplyDeleteMore relevant statistics would be the arson rate and the insurance non-pay-out rate, i.e. the ones they caught and didn't pay. A spike there would show the trend more properly. Even if only a percentage of arsons can be detected, it would also show up in these stats.
Also, the extra 100,000 fires in China could easily be a result of the massive increase in buildings (and probably the quality of construction.)
I would also suggest arson would be more likely with failing companies rather than companies moving accross to China needing "seed money" (as if banks and profits don't exist!)
Reason: You cannot have a gap in your production and keep your big customers. And you will be naturally fearful if the China factory can't handle production (likely) to keep the Taiwan in reserve. Every company I know that has moved to China has kept Taiwan production going even years after China worked out.
Those are all excellent points, man.
ReplyDeleteThey are QUIBBLES, not points. What it means is that I'm bored and can't sleep and have nothing better to do thank think about this stuff...and noting your amount of posting we could start a club!
ReplyDeleteAlso, I am very upset you did not use the phrase "Where there is smoke, there's fire" somewhere in the post.
p.s. I would also be curious about insurance companies shying away from offering fire insurance, too. It's not like they are forced by law to accept industrial customers.