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                                                                    Exhibit 12.1

                                 CERTIFICATIONS

I, Joseph Li, certify that:

     1. I have reviewed this annual report on Form 20-F of Nam Tai Electronics,
Inc.;

     2. Based on my knowledge, this annual report does not contain any untrue
statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to make
the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such statements
were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this annual
report;

     3. Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial
information included in this annual report, fairly present in all material
respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the
company as of, and for, the periods presented in this annual report;

     4. The company's other certifying officers and I are responsible for
establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in
Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) and internal control over financial
reporting (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(f) and 15(d)-15(f)) for the
company and have:

          a. Designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such
     disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our supervision, to
     ensure that material information relating to the company, including its
     consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us by others within those
     entities, particularly during the period in which this annual report is
     being prepared;

          b. Designed such internal control over financial reporting, or caused
     such internal control over financial reporting to be designed under our
     supervision, to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of
     financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for
     external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting
     principles;

          c. Evaluated the effectiveness of the company's disclosure controls
     and procedures and presented in this report our conclusions about the
     effectiveness of the disclosure controls and procedures as of the end of
     the period covered by this report based on such evaluations; and

          d. Disclosed in this report any change in the company's internal
     control over financial reporting that occurred during the period covered by
     the annual report that has materially affected, or is reasonably likely to
     materially affect, the company's internal control over financial reporting.

     5. The company's other certifying officer(s) and I have disclosed, based on
our most recent evaluation of internal controls over financial reporting, to the
company's auditors and the audit committee of company's Board of Directors (or
persons performing the equivalent function):

          a. All significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design
     or operation of internal controls over financial reporting which are
     reasonably likely to adversely affect the company's ability to record,
     process, summarize and report financial information; and

          b. Any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or
     other employees who have a significant role in the company's internal
     controls over financial reporting.

                                                     /s/ JOSEPH LI
                                        ----------------------------------------
                                                       Joseph Li
                                                Chief Executive Officer

Date: March 10, 2004