Business and Finance

Taiwan eyeing China’s domestic market amid US-China trade war

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-07-12

Taiwan is eyeing China’s domestic consumers amid a US-China trade war. Taiwan’s trade council released a report on Thursday about China’s domestic market. The report said that China aims to have average annual household incomes grow threefold to RMB90,000 (around US$13,400) by 2020.

Taiwan’s trade council official Lin Fang Miao said that this would be a great opportunity for Taiwan’s businesses. He said smart technology, medical products, environmental and children’s products have much potential. Lin also noted the health industry is growing quickly in Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu, Hangzhou and other cities.

As for the current US-China trade war, he said that Taiwanese businesspersons are keeping a close watch on developments to see how it will affect their business interests.    [FULL  STORY]

China Airlines increases direct flights between Taiwan and Rome

China Airlines has increased weekly direct flights between Taoyuan airport and Rome to three per week

Taiwan News 
Date: 2018/07/12
By: Scott Morgan, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

(Images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons) (By Wikimedia Commons)

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taiwan’s China Airlines (中華航空公司) announced it has increased its number of weekly direct flights from Taipei to Rome to three, to cater to growing European tourism, reported CNA.

The three weekly flights are scheduled to depart from Rome at 11.05 am every Monday, Wednesday and Friday and touch down at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at 5.45 a.m. The new timetable will enter into force this month.

Tsai Kuang-cheng (蔡光政), general manager of China Airlines’ Italy branch said the decision to increase the number of flights was to make best use of the airlines’ new Airbus A350 and to service growing demand by Taiwanese tourists.

Tsai said he also hoped that the additional flights will allow Taiwanese expats a more convenient means of returning home.    [FULL  STORY]

Innovation trend may shift towards M-shaped Society: report

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/07/12
By: Pan Tzu-yu and William Yen

Taipei, July 12 (CNA) A recent report on how the trend of innovation-

CNA file photo

focused economies will affect workforce demands pointed out that salaries in the future may be structured towards reflecting an M-shaped Society as mid-level employees are not qualified enough for higher positions and will be easily replaced by lower-level employees.

The term M-shaped Society, coined by the Japanese economist Kenichi Ohmae, is used to describe a phenomenon in which the number of rich and poor people swell while the middle class diminishes.

The report, which studied Taiwan’s 5+2 Industrial Innovation Plan and its impact on work and skills needed for the next 10 years was commissioned by the National Development Council and conducted by the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER).

The report showed that the digital innovation trend has far-reaching impact on industrial manpower and in the future the opportunities for human-computer collaboration will increase significantly in the fields of robotics, artificial intelligence, and Internet of Things.    [FULL  STORY]

Largan mum on new technology

EXPANDING OPERATIONS: The company is still scouting for land to build a new plant, and is developing new specifications and applications for smartphone camera lenses

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 13, 2018
By Ted Chen  /  Staff reporter

Smartphone camera lens supplier Largan Precision Co (大立光) yesterday remained tight-lipped about the company’s capacity expansion plans, only saying that it is pursuing new technology.

The company is developing new specifications and applications for smartphone camera lenses, which would be produced at a new plant, Largan chief executive officer Adam Lin (林恩平) said during an investors’ teleconference.

The new lenses would be all plastic and be made with a revamped manufacturing process, Lin said, adding that the company’s expansion plans would begin to take shape by 2020.

However, Lin declined to reveal further details and sources of demand that would fill the company’s growing capacity, citing confidentiality agreements with its customers.    [FULL STORY]

Taipei MRT awards contract to French company Alstom for Line 7 trains

The French train manufacturer will construct 19 trains and provide its patented driverless signaling system for the Wanda-Shulin MRT Line 

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/07/11
By: Duncan DeAeth, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The Taipei Metro company has awarded a joint

A metro train built by Alstom in São Paulo Brazil. Photo: May, 2017 (By Wikimedia Commons)

contract to a French company and a local Taiwanese company to construct the future Metro Line 7, reports Smart Rail World.

The joint contract valued at US$437.6 million has been given to the French train manufacturer Alstom and the Taiwanese engineering firm CTCI (中鼎集團). The French company has reportedly taken responsibility to build 19 commuter trains that will travel on the new MRT line.

MRT Line 7, also known as the Wanda-Shulin Line, will reportedly stretch a length of 9.5 kilometers, and will include 9 underground stations extending south from the CKS Memorial Station through Yonghe and Zhonghe districts, and then West to join the Bannan Line at Tucheng MRT Station.
[FULL  STORY]

U.S. dollar higher in Taipei trading

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/07/12
By: Y.F. Low

Taipei, July 12 (CNA) The U.S. dollar was traded at NT$30.568 at 9:45 a.m. Thursday on the Taipei Foreign Exchange, up NT$0.087 from the previous close.   [SOURCE]

HTC to launch first blockchain phone

EXODUS: The smartphone will have a cold storage wallet to keep cryptocurrencies offline and safe from cyberattacks, and support decentralized apps, the company said

Taipei Times
Date: Jul 12, 2018
By: Ted Chen  /  Staff reporter

HTC Corp (宏達電) yesterday said that it would release the world’s first

HTC chief decentralized officer Phil Chen, who is in charge of blockchain at the company, poses for a picture in Taipei yesterday.  Photo: Wang Yi-hung, Taipei Times

blockchain-powered smartphone to early adopters by September, followed by a wider release toward the end of this year.

The Exodus smartphone will be equipped with a cold storage wallet to keep cryptocurrencies offline and safe from cyberattacks, and support decentralized apps, the company said.

The company has also announced partnerships with blockchain developers to build new ecosystems based on distributed ledger technology.

Given the ubiquitousness of smartphones, the device is ideal for growing the base of dedicated nodes on blockchain networks, HTC chief decentralized officer Phil Chen (陳信生) said.    [FULL  STORY]

TAITRA eyes 1,000 halal certifications by year end

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2018-07-10

Taiwan’s trade promotion organization TAITRA hopes the country will have

TAITRA head Walter Yeh appears in this CNA file photo.

more than 1,000 halal-certified establishments by the end of the year. That’s the word from TAITRA head Walter Yeh on Tuesday.

Yeh told RTI that there are now more than 850 establishments with halal certification after the Taiwan Halal Center was inaugurated in April last year.

In exports of halal goods, TAITRA has managed to enter the markets in Malaysia, India, and Indonesia, as well as Singapore and Japan, which attract large numbers of Muslim tourists.     [FULL  STORY]

US-China trade war is reality show without script: TSMC founder

Morris Chang visited company on 87th birthday Tuesday

Taiwan News
Date: 2018/07/10
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TSMC founder Morris Chang (second from right) returned to his company on his 87th birthday Tuesday. (By Central News Agency)

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – The trade war between the United States and China is like a reality show, with U.S. President Donald Trump acting and talking without a script, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) founder Morris Chang (張忠謀) said during a visit to his former company Tuesday.

Chang retired from the company last month but returned to its headquarters to attend the official naming of the main building after him on his 87th birthday, the Central News Agency reported. After he founded the company more than 30 years ago, it grew into the world’s largest contract manufacturer of chips for computers and phones.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan, Iraqi sign MOU to promote trade exchanges

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2018/07/10
By: Liao Yu-yang and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, July 10 (CNA) Taiwan External Trade Development Council

Photo courtesy of TAITRA

(TAITRA), the country’s foremost nonprofit trade promotion organization, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the State Company for Iraqi Fair and Commercial Services in Taipei on Tuesday to promote economic and trade exchanges between the two countries.

The MOU was signed by TAITRA President and CEO Walter Yeh (葉明水) and Hashim Mohammed Hatem al-Sudani, chairman of the Iraqi company.

Yeh said that TAITRA plans a series of promotional activities this year to explore the market in the Middle East and help local enterprises cooperate with economic and trade associations in the area.    [FULL  STORY]