It wasn't until mid-November 2008, when the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics announced that Taiwan was experiencing negative growth and industrial production was shrinking at a rate of 12.6 % for Q3, that people started to pay attention to the severity of the situation and discuss the idea of establishing special zones for Taiwanese exporters.
直到 11 月中旬，主計處公佈第 3 季台灣經濟負成長，10 月分工業生產更大幅萎縮 12.6％，才有人注意到問題的嚴重性，「經貿特區」或「台商專區」的政策討論才出現。