TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan businesses overseas should help strengthen cooperation between Taiwan and the rest of the world, but they are also welcome to return home and invest, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) told the World Taiwanese Chambers of Commerce (WTCC) Thursday (March 18).

At the Presidential Office, Tsai met a delegation from the group that had returned not only to visit but also to scout for investment opportunities, CNA reported. In her speech, she emphasized how the country’s economic transformation has made it a key part of global supply chains, especially for such vital products as semiconductors.

She also noted how last year, despite the coronavirus pandemic, Taiwan’s economy still managed to grow by 3.11 percent, more than the other three Asian Dragons — Singapore, Hong Kong and South Korea — and most other countries in the world.

The government had set up a platform to make exchanges between Taiwanese investors overseas and enterprises inside the country more convenient, she said.

A special app to spread information about the coronavirus and prevent infections had also been targeted at Taiwanese overseas. It has been downloaded more than 3,000 times, according to the president.

She lauded WTCC efforts to distribute Taiwanese surgical masks abroad and observed that on the occasion of the Chinese ban on pineapple imports from the island country, the group had purchased 481 metric tons of the fruit and related products.