At a groundbreaking ceremony for a new wing of a cancer center in Taipei yesterday, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) said he would not want to invest in Taiwan unless it is necessary, citing slow administrative procedures and an unfavorable investment environment.

Gou, who has donated more than NT$15 billion (US$496.25 million) to National Taiwan University (NTU) since 2007 to build a cancer center, said it took 10 years for the university to complete the construction of the center due to bureaucratic red tape.

Gou said he had called university president Yang Pan-chyr (楊泮池) on a monthly basis to track the center’s progress, as he wanted to fulfill his promise to improve cancer research and treatment in the nation as soon as possible.

“I really want to invest in Taiwan, but given the poor administrative efficiency and investment atmosphere here, I try not to go back to Taiwan,” Gou said at the ceremony for the National Taiwan University Cancer Center’s radiation science and proton therapy unit.

Citing Hon Hai’s recent experience discussing investments with the US government, Gou said Taiwan would largely fall behind the US if the government does not raise its efficiency.

Minister of Economic Affairs Lee Chih-kung (李世光) said that the government appreciates any suggestions proposed by enterprises.

The ministry last year set up a “single-window” mechanism to serve people or businesses that wish to invest in Taiwan, in an attempt to simplify and speed up the procedures, Lee said.

National Development Council Minister Chen Tain-jy (陳添枝) said that he believed Gou would continue to invest in Taiwan as Gou cares about the nation’s development.

“I think what he [Gou] said today was just a temper tantrum, as his investment in NTU’s cancer center was stalled for a long time,” the Chinese-language Economic Daily newspaper quoted Chen as saying.