Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/10/29
By: Huang Chiao-wen and Romulo Huang

Taipei, Oct. 29 (CNA) The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) plans to invest NT$2

billion (US$61.3 million) in the research and development of next-generation vehicles over the next four years, with the aim of stimulating the development of higher value-added manufacturing industries in the country, a ministry official said Thursday.

Chang Ming-huan (張明煥), division chief of the Department of Industrial Technology (DoIT) under the MOEA, said the ministry is to start the four-year investment project next year. He estimated that the plan could attract investment of some NT$20 billion in related industries by 2020, and create an additional production value of some NT$130 billion over the next five years.

Chang indicated that next-generation automobiles will feature energy consumption savings, reduction of weight, security and smart functions, and said that this development trend will lead Taiwan’s relatively more advanced electronic and electrical engineering industries toward the higher value-added and emergent automative electronics industry.     [FULL  STORY]

STAMP OF APPROVAL:Minister of Economic Affairs John Deng said that Taiwan cannot hope to join the TPP negotiations until Beijing gives the nation approval

Taipei Times
Date:  Oct 29, 2015
By: Lauly Li  /  Staff reporter

Taiwan needs China’s support to join the next round of Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP)

negotiations as China is the largest trading partner of six of the 12 TPP members, Minister of Economic Affairs John Deng (鄧振中) said yesterday.

“Given those TPP members’ close trading relationships with China, it is unavoidable that those countries will consider China’s stance before expressing support for Taiwan,” Deng said in an interview with UFO Radio program host Tang Hsiang-lung (唐湘龍).

With import value reaching US$200 billion to US$300 billion a year in Taiwan, “there is a chance for us to join the next round of TPP negotiations,” Deng said.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/10/28
By: Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, Oct. 28 (CNA) China Airlines (CAL), Taiwan’s largest carrier, launched direct flights between Tainan and the Japanese city of Osaka on Wednesday, in a bid to expand its presence in the southern Taiwan travel market.

CAL said it will operate two flights per week on the route — on Wednesdays and Saturdays – using a Boeing 737-800 aircraft, which has eight business class seats and 150 economy class seats.

The aim is to offer more options for travel between Tainan and Osaka, two cities that are known for their rich culture and history, the airline said.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-10-28
By: CNA

Garmin, a maker of GPS-based gadgets, released the latest version of its Fenix

smartwatch in a new rose-gold color Tuesday in Taiwan, as part of its foray into higher price bands.

The rose-gold Fenix 3 will hit Taiwan stores on Nov. 28 priced at NT$25,990 (US$800). It is the second Garmin smartwatch priced at more than NT$20,000 (US$615), following the Fenix 3 with a sapphire crystal display, which starts at NT$22,990 (US$710).

The Fenix 3 supports a wide range of multisport activities, from advanced fitness training to alpine skiing, snowboarding, hiking, climbing and trail running.

The top-of-the-line watch is compatible with Garmin’s Connect IQ app store for more smartwatch functionality and customization.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwn
Date: 2015/10/27
By: Chen Cheng-wei and Kuo Chung-han

Taipei, Oct. 27 (CNA) Taiwan’s economic indicators flashed a “blue” light for the fourth consecutive month in September, indicating a sluggish economy, the National Development Council (NDC) said Tuesday.

The overall composite score of the business monitoring indicators was 14 points, same as the previous month and the lowest since May 2012. It was also the fifth time that Taiwan’s key economic indicator flashed a blue light this year.

The indicator first flashed a “blue” light in April, followed by a “yellow-blue” light when the overall score rose to 18 points in May.

The council employs a five-color system to gauge the country’s economic performance, with “blue” (9-16 points) indicating a sluggish economy, “yellow-blue” (17-22) representing an economic slump, “green” (23-31) denoting a stable growth, “yellow-red” (32-37) referring to a heating economy, and “red” (38-45) pointing to an overheated economy.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/10/26
By: Tai Ya-chen and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, Oct. 26 (CNA) Taiwan’s government has decided to equip all public places and government offices around the country that provide iTaiwan free online services with mobile phone charging stations by the end of the year as part of its convenience-for-people initiative.

The decision to provide the free charging services was made during a joint meeting of government agencies concerned hosted by Vice Premier Chang San-cheng (張善政) after a lawmaker asked the Executive Yuan last week to set up 10,000 charging stations countrywide.

National Development Council senior analyst Hsu Chia-lin (徐嘉臨) said the government plans to establish mobile phone charging stations in three stages.

The first focuses on installing stations in public places with government-built hotspots for free wireless Internet services, known as iTaiwan.

Want China Times
Date: 2015-10-26
By: CNA

Taiwan computer maker Acer has launched its latest cloud subsidiary in the Chinese city

of Chongqing, making it the company’s third cloud operation after Taipei and Silicon Valley.

The opening ceremony of Acer Cloud Technology (Chongqing) at Xiantao Big Data Valley was hosted Saturday by Acer chair George Huang and Stan Shih, Acer’s honorary chair who oversees the company’s Build Your Own Cloud (BYOC) cloud computing strategy.

“Chongqing is China’s largest and most important notebook computer manufacturing base, and is also an important global operations hub for Acer,” Huang said in an emailed statement.

“We hope to extend Acer’s ‘hardware + software + services’ vision to Chongqing, working with our partners to expand the local value-chain of big data and Internet of Things (IoT),” Huang said, referring to the concept of connecting physical objects to the internet.     [FULL  STORY]