Taipei - Taiwan stocks fell nearly 3 per cent Thursday over underlying economic worries as President Ma Ying-jeou said he would not be able realize his pledge to boost Taiwan's economy within his term.

The TAIEX index dipped 172.30 points, or 2.62 per cent, to close at 6,412.63.

Leading the fall are China-related shares - electronics, tourism, shipping, aviation and construction shares. Tourism companies lost ground as arrivals from mainland China remained below expectations.

Commodities closed weaker as investors were concerned over slowing demand, corporate earnings affected by a global economic slowdown.

"The main reason for the share price dive is President Ma's campaign promise has not materialized. So all the China-related shares and export-related shares - that is electronics shares - plunged," said Chiu Hsin-lin, vice president of the Industrial Bank of Taiwan.

Ma, from the China-friendly Chinese Nationalist Party, won a landslide victory in the March 22 elections on a platform of seeking peace with China and revitalizing the island's economy.

Ma's vowed to achieve a 6-per-cent annual economic growth, boost per capita gross domestic product to 30,000 US dollars and keep the jobless rate under 3 per cent.

Three months after he took office, Taiwan's economic growth is between 4 and 4.5 per cent, unemployment is above 4 per cent and per capital GDP is at 17,000 US dollars.

In an interview with the Mexican daily Sol de Mexico, published in Taiwan papers Wednesday, Ma said he hopes to achieve his economic goal by 2016, in the last year of his second term if he is re-elected in 2012.

On Thursday, the opposition Democratic Progressive Party accused Ma of banking on a second term by postponing his campaign promise for his first term. (dpa)