Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/01/22
By: Jalen Chung, Elizabeth Hsu, S.C. Chang

Taipei, Jan. 22 (CNA) Taiwanese tycoon Terry Gou (郭台銘) said Sunday if the United States offers

him free land, he might join major clients such as Apple Inc. to invest over US$7 billion to set up panel manufacturing plants there.

Gou, chairman of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., the world’s largest electronics contract manufacturer, made his remarks while meeting local and foreign media representatives during his company’s year-end weiya party.

He said Hon Hai’s Japanese affiliate, Sharp Corp., has core technologies and is cooperating with Corning Inc. of the United States. He has reached an agreement with Apple Inc., which needs quality display products, to jointly invest in a project to make panels in the U.S.

Whether he will go ahead with the investment plan will depend on whether the U.S. is willing to offer land “at a cost of US$1” for building the panel plants. Pennsylvania is quite active in luring such an investment, he disclosed.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/01/21
By: Tien Yu-pin and Frances Huang

Taipei, Jan. 21 (CNA) Public confidence in Taiwan’s economy over the next six months has weakened further, although the gross domestic product (GDP) is forecast to grow at a faster pace in 2017 than during the previous year, according to Cathay Financial Holding Co. (國泰金).

Citing a survey conducted earlier this month, Cathay Financial said that 48.1 of the respondents to the poll agreed that the local economy will get worse over the next six months, while only 21.1 percent agreed that the economic fundamentals over the next six months will fare better.

The results translate into a January optimism index toward the economy over the next six months of minus 27.0, down from minus 23.2 recorded in December, Cathay Financial said.

In addition, the economic optimism index for the current economic situation in the January survey also fell to minus 30.2 from December’s minus 27.8, which represents further evidence of caution, the company said.    [FULL  STORY]

How will Trump affect Taiwan exports?

Radio Taiwan International
Date: 2017-01-21

Trade experts are assessing the potential impact of US President Donald Trump’s trade policies on

Taiwan’s exports to the United States.

Trump made trade issues and the protection of US manufacturing prominent themes of his campaign. But head of the economics ministry’s statistics department Lin Li-chen said Saturday that while Trump’s policies will have an impact on Taiwanese exports, that impact may not be apparent in the short-term. That’s because new policies take time to negotiate and implement. Lin also said that as long as existing relationships between businesses continue unchanged, decisions to move production to a new place will not have a big impact on Taiwan’s exporters.

However, Lin said that Taiwan won’t be able to ignore unexpected developments that may emerge this year. She said that these include the Trump administration’s policies and the overall direction of global trade. At the same time, she said that Taiwan will have to keep a close eye on changes in its trade with the US and Mainland China.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/01/21
By: Huang Chiao-wen and Frances Huang

Taipei, Jan. 21 (CNA) Taiwan is likely to report a year-on-year increase in December’s industrial production for the fifth consecutive month, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said Saturday.

The optimism was bolstered by moves by clients of local manufacturers to build up their inventories in a bid to meet rising demand before and during the upcoming Lunar New Year holiday, a traditional shopping season in ethnic Chinese societies, the MOEA said.

It said that industrial production for December could rise about 6 percent from a year earlier after an 8.83 percent year-on-year increase seen in November. The ministry is scheduled to release the December industrial production on Monday.

In November, the industrial production index also rose 1.79 percent from a month earlier to 111.27, with the sub-index for the manufacturing sector — which accounts for more than 90 percent of local industrial production — up 10.36 percent from a year earlier on the back of solid demand for electronic devices in the global market.    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: January 21, 2017
By: CNA

TAIPEI, Taiwan — U.S. President Donald Trump’s “America First” approach is likely to affect Taiwan’s

export performance, the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) said Saturday in response to the U.S. president’s inauguration speech a day earlier.

Economists, meanwhile, urged the Taiwan government to come up with measures to counter the possible impact of an administration under Trump, who has been strongly leaning toward trade protectionism, as the United States is one of the largest buyers of Taiwan-made goods.

Lin Li-chen (林麗貞), director of the MOEA’s Department of Statistics, appeared cautious about the trade policy of the U.S. in the future after Trump pushed the theme of “America First” in his inaugural address.

“For many decades, we’ve enriched foreign industry at the expense of American industry,” Trump said in his speech, “…We will bring back our jobs. We will bring back our borders. We will bring back our wealth. And we will bring back our dreams.”    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2017/01/20
By: Huang Li-yun and Frances Huang

Taipei, Jan. 20 (CNA) The number of planned investments in China by Taiwanese companies that were approved by Taiwan’s government in 2016 fell for the third consecutive year, slumping 21 percent year-on-year, the Investment Commission said Friday.

The commission attributed the decline to slower growth and a less attractive investment environment in China, which have discouraged Taiwanese investors from injecting funds into the market.

According to the commission, it approved a total of 252 China-bound investment applications in 2016, down 21.49 percent from a year earlier.

China’s gross domestic product grew 6.7 percent in 2016, the National Bureau of Statistics said on Friday. The 2016 figure fell within the Chinese government’s growth target range of 6.5-7 percent but was still the lowest in 26 years.    [FULL  STORY]

The China Post
Date: January 21, 2017
By: The China Post news staff

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Former Foreign Minister James Huang was elected chairman of the Taiwan External

Trade Development Council (TAITRA) Friday.

Huang was elected chairman at a meeting of TAITRA’s boards of directors and supervisors, during which Chuang Suo-hang and Kuo Lin-wu were named as deputy chairmen of the non-profit trade promotion organization.

Walter Yeh, originally vice president of the organization, was also promoted to president, the government-sponsored body said.

Huang, who was foreign minister between 2006 and 2008, was the first director of President Tsai Ing-wen’s New Southbound    [FULL  STORY]