1980年代中期以降,包括台灣在內的新興工業化地區興起對外投資的熱潮,也因此帶來這個區域的新國際分工。同時,中國大陸實施經濟改革開放,一些地方社會及其政府積極吸引外資,走向外向型發展的道路,位於蘇南的吳江即為顯例,成為近年高科技台商蜂擁長江三角洲的重要基地之一。那麼,全球化的過程如何影響大蘇州的興起,從而帶動吳江的發展?吳江擁有什麼在地條件足以吸引外資,邁向外向型經濟發展的新階段?本文透過田野調查的資料,尤其是針對投產當地台商兼及地方政府官員的訪談紀錄,發現吳江1990年代的外向型經濟發展,是接軌上海及大蘇州地區串通射效應的結果。而其具體吸引外資的條件,大致有地方政府效能、產業群聚效應、政策及實質優惠、公共安全等四項,其中尤以前兩項最為重要,是台商選擇吳江投資的關鍵。
Since its economic reform and opening policy in late 1970s, southern Jiangsu (蘇南) in the triangle sand bar of Yang-tze River has become one of the most eminent economic developing areas in Mainland China. Although it was bred from agricultural economy and designed as a collective-enterprise industrial model, the outward-looking economic strategy they have adopted since the late 1980s has been attracting much foreign capital from all over the world, led a rapid economic growth and produced a new developing model. The city of Wujiang (吳江市) is a very deserving case for its developing process from a town only has many local silk factories to a city full of hundreds Taiwanese electronic industries. Why many Taiwanese Investments, as the newly Transnational Companies (TNCs), have migrated successively to Wujiang City in recent ten years? And what are the local conditions of the city to attract those foreign direct capital from Taiwan?This research tries to answer the above questions and aims at offering theoretical and practical insights to the business circle and the government by initially investigating the points of view of Taiwanese businessmen and local officials in the Mainland. This paper highlights the rise of greater Suzhou area to know the reasons why the region becomes China's ”dragon head.” There are several high-tech development zones in this area. I examine Wujiang's specific local conditions to understand the reasons why Taiwanese investors choose this place with a relatively inferior status in the sense of the hierarchy of development zones. The study finds that two generally accepted causes, ”preferential treatments” and ”public safety” are in fact not major concerns of investors. But the factors of ”industrial clusters” and ”local government efficiency” do play important role in attracting foreign capital, especially the former.