The North region apparently had the largest share of manufacturing establishment units. The leading position of the North region was particularly remarkable in Type IV, as its share was mostly more than 65 percent throughout the entire period.

Next was Type III, with the share in the North around 43 percent. The Central region competed with the North in leading Type II; the difference of their shares was merely 1.5 percentage points in 1996. As for Type I, the North, the Central, and the South regions each shared about one-third in 1966, but the share of the South region shrank to below 30 percent from 1976 onwards and even down to 22 percent in 1996. Thus, in 1996, the North region took the lead with a difference of 3 percentage points higher than the Central. The East region's shares in the four types of manufacturing were all very low, only about 2 percent in Type I and below 1 percent in the other types.

     As mentioned above there was an increase in the number of establishments in five industries in Hualien County in 1996; however, the total number of manufacturing establishments in the East region declined from 1,326 to 1,260 between 1991 and 1996. This indicates that the policy proposed recently to move industries to the East coast has been successfully carried out so far. Perhaps from the viewpoint of environmental conservation, it is better not to develop industry too fast there.

3. Regional Variation in the Development of Industrial Zones

     Regional variations can also be seen in the development of industrial zones. The industrial zones were established to provide industrial land for investors and to use the land efficiently. In Taiwan, there are four categories of industrial zones. The first category is established in the urban planning areas according to the Urban Planning Act. The second category is established at the non-urban, fourth-grade land classified for construction use according to the Regulation for Promoting Use. The third category is established according to the Regulation for Promoting Investment issued in 1960 and further according to the Regulation for Upgrading the Industry that was issued in 1991; this category is also known as a designated (pien-ting ??) industrial zone. These three categories of industrial zones are distributed all over cities and counties. The fourth category is established particularly for processing industry and for export near Kaohsiung and Taichung harbors.