The salary level of Chinese managers is likely to surpass that of Taiwanese managers by next year, says the acting CEO of a Chinese flat-panel maker.

Chen Liyi of CSOT said that a Chinese manager's annual salary would amount to NT$2 million (US$68,400) next year when interviewed by our sister newspaper the Commercial Times.

Chen said that a Taiwanese engineer who seeks a better salary by working in China would earn 1.5 to 2 times more than in Taiwan, which means that an engineer would roughly earn NT$9 million (US$308,000) if he worked there three years. However, the salary gap between Taiwanese and Chinese engineers is shrinking.

According to Chen, China's eastern coastal area, once well-known for its cheap labor, has now hiked its salary levels 10% to 25%, while medium and high-rankin managers enjoy even higher salary hikes.

Commenting on the rise of Korean panels, Chen said the best strategy would be to ally China's market and Taiwan's strength to counter South Korea's momentum in the market. He said that it would be a bad solution if China teamed up with Japan because Japanese panel production is slumping.

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Chen Liyi　陳立宜