Taiwanese resorts must double down on service amid the prospect of a price war.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/08/10
By: Alex Barker, Taiwan Business TOPICS Magazine

The last decade has been full of ups and downs for Taiwan’s hospitality industry. Initially driven by a surge in Chinese tourism thanks to president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九)’s strengthening of cross-Strait ties in 2008, the following years saw the construction of hundreds of new hotels and resorts across Taiwan.

Recent years, however, have been less kind. Political strains with China have a seen a decrease in the number of mainland tourists, while the steady advancement of the resort industry in Southeast Asian nations such as Thailand has begun to draw both vacationers and trained hospitality staff away from Taiwan.

In the face of increased foreign and domestic competition, Taiwanese resorts are working hard to bring guests back. This means redoubling efforts to focus on customer service – already seen as a Taiwanese competitive advantage – as well as increasing foreign-targeted marketing. Meanwhile, many smaller resorts are finding success by drawing upon Taiwan’s unique cultural and artistic legacy.
[FULL  STORY]

Daniel Tsai should be signing board proposals beforehand: FSC

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/08/10
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The government’s Financial Supervisory Commission

(FSC) might remove one of the country’s wealthiest businessmen, Daniel Tsai (蔡明忠), as vice chairman of Fubon Financial Holdings (富邦金) after two months if the company does not improve its practices by then, reports said Friday.

The holding reportedly broke laws separating financial companies from other businesses by requiring all proposals to the board to be signed off by Tsai beforehand, in effect handing over the real power of decision to the vice chairman, the Apple Daily reported.

The FSC sent a letter to Fubon Friday cautioning the powerful holding to correct the situation or to face the removal of its vice chairman after two months, according to the report.

FSC Minister Wellington Koo (顧立雄) reportedly told journalists that a vice chairman only holds the same privileges and rights as any other member of the board, and that he can only act if the official chairman is absent or has a valid reason not to be able to execute his authority.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/08/10
By: Liao Yu-yang, Chu Tze-wei, Chang Chien-chung and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, Aug. 10 (CNA) An agreement reached Friday between the Fair Trade

Commission (FTC) and Qualcomm Inc. that sees the recall of a multimillion U.S. dollar antitrust penalty, allows Taiwan to continue discussions with the American mobile phone chip designer on the direction of their future industrial collaboration, Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) officials said that day.

The ministry “welcomes the settlement and is willing to continue close cooperation with Qualcomm,” Economics Minister Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) told CNA, adding that the MOEA will now talk with Qualcomm about its investment plans here.

The FTC announced earlier in the day that with the Intellectual Property Court’s mediation, it has reached a settlement with Qualcomm, under which the company can stop paying fines totaling NT$23.4 billion (US$763 million) while the agency will keep the NT$2.73 billion Qualcomm has already paid.

Under the settlement, the antitrust regulator has accepted the company’s commitment to undertake fair negotiations on licensing with local mobile phone makers and chip suppliers, to launch a five-year investment project covering 5G collaboration, new market expansion, start-ups and university collaborations, and to found an operational and manufacturing engineering center in Taiwan.
[FULL  STORY]

Global electronics companies could redirect orders to Taiwan: MOEA

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/08/09
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taiwan’s semiconductor sector should not be afraid of the next round in the trade war between the United States and China later this month as it will profit from the relocation of orders, Economics Minister Shen Jong-chin (沈榮津) said Thursday.

A new round of punitive tariffs leveled by the Trump Administration is expected to come into force on August 23, stoking fears about the sharpening of a trade war between the two major powers.

However, Shen said that since the semiconductor industry in Taiwan is just about the strongest in the world, it should profit from orders being relocated away from China by the world’s major electronics companies, the Central News Agency reported.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/08/09
By: Liu Li-jung and William Yen

Taipei, Aug. 9 (CNA) The Ministry of the Interior (MOI) passed a revision of the

Regulations on Non-urban Land Use Control Thursday to permit solar photovoltaic power generation businesses to operate in public cemeteries.

The revision has been introduced to ensure optimal use of land space at public cemeteries in concert with the objective of making Taiwan nuclear free by 2025.

According to current regulations, renewable energy related facilities can be installed on up to 14 categories of land, including farms, forests, mines, parks and homeland security designated land, MOI said.

In order to promote the diversified use of existing cemetery land and expand the planning of renewable energy power generation facilities, cemeteries will now be allowed to install solar photovoltaic power generation facilities, but any projects will still require approval from the relevant local authorities, the ministry said.
[FULL  STORY]

The new currencies lack the basic element of trust: Yang

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/08/07
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Cryptocurrencies do not form part of the trust

system which allows common currencies to flourish, Central Bank Governor Yang Chin-long (楊金龍) said Tuesday.

Speaking at a forum about the bank’s role in a digital economy, Taiwan’s central banker emphasized that the use of a currency as a method of payment relied on a long history of trust. Once that trust disappeared, the currency’s value could collapse to zero, Yang said, according to a Liberty Times report.

Cryptocurrencies still encountered numerous problems, from sharp ups and downs in their value and supply issues to a lack of efficiency, Yang said. As there was no way of asking for compensation or redress, the new currencies could often be used by unscrupulous characters, he added.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/08/07
By Kuo Hsin-yi and William Yen

Taipei, Aug. 7 (CNA) Local business groups are not optimistic about a draft economic immigration bill newly completed by the National Development Council (NDC), saying that excluding investment immigration from the draft act is a missed opportunity.

The remark came as the NDC released the draft act Monday that targets three categories of foreign talent — professionals, mid-level skilled workers, and Taiwanese expatriates and their offspring, but excludes investment immigration.

Chairman Lai Cheng-i (賴正鎰) of the General Chamber of Commerce of the Republic of China (Taiwan) said the government shouldn’t have removed the option just because it is worried that the influx of funds into the country will be difficult to manage.    [FULL  STORY]