Want China Times
Editorial
2015-09-29

Taiwan and China reached consensus on three matters at an annual meeting of a cross-

strait banking supervision cooperation platform in central Taiwan’s Nantou county last week, including Beijing’s agreement to open its doors more widely to Taiwanese banks to open more than one branch in one Chinese province.

The two sides also agreed to encourage and support cross-strait financial business to forge equity partnerships and to support and assist Taiwanese banks in opening branches in China’s free trade zones.

It was the fifth meeting of the platform since the initial meeting in 2011 and talks went smoothly at this year’s conference.

The major cooperation proposals agreed on during the third meeting of the platform in 2013 were included in the trade-in-services agreement signed by Taiwan and China in June of that year, but the agreement has not been ratified after the student-led Sunflower Movement galvanized popular opposition to the pact last year.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/09/26
By: Frances Huang

Taipei, Sept. 26 (CNA) Fitch Ratings has upgraded ratings for EnTie Commercial Bank (安泰銀行), citing expectations that the medium-sized Taiwanese bank will be able to sustain its improved capitalization.

In a report, Fitch said that EnTie Bank’s national ratings has been upgraded to ‘A(twn)’ from ‘A-(twn)’ on the back of the bank’s capacity to maintain its improved capitalization resulting from “the bank’s improved earnings quality, measured appetite for loan growth, reduced concentration in deposits, and loans to the property-related sectors.”

Meanwhile, the ratings agency said that it has also affirmed EnTie Bank’s outlook as “stable.”     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/09/26
By: Jalen Chung and Frances Huang

Taipei, Sept. 26 (CNA) The latest batch of 1,000 “Pepper” robots developed by Japanese telecom giant SoftBank Corp. and Taiwanese contract manufacturer Hon Hai Precision Industry Co. (鴻海) were sold out in one minute after being put up for sale Saturday morning, according to the Japanese company.

SoftBank unveiled the Pepper robot in the Japan market on June 18 for the first time and the human-like device sparked enthusiasm from Japanese consumers immediately after the launch.

Pepper, created to function as a social companion for humans, is not only able to read human emotions, but can also express feelings of its own to respond to emotional signifiers, like laughing or frowning.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/09/26
By: Elaine Hou

Taipei, Sept. 26 (CNA) Deputy United States Trade Representative Robert Holleyman will

lead an interagency delegation to Taiwan next week to attend talks under the bilateral Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA), said the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Saturday.

On a visit to Taiwan Sept. 30-Oct. 2, Holleyman will be joined by officials from the Office of the United States Trade Representative and the U.S. Departments of State, Commerce, and Agriculture, as well as AIT officials, said the AIT, which represents U.S. interests in Taiwan in the absence of bilateral diplomatic ties.

The delegation will attend the latest round of TIFA talks slated for Oct. 1 in Taipei with its Taiwanese counterparts.

This will be Holleyman’s first visit to Taiwan in his capacity as Deputy U.S. trade representative, Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Saturday.

During his visit, he is scheduled to meet with President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), Vice Premier Simon Chang (張善政), Foreign Minister David Lin (林永樂), and Economics Minister John Deng (鄧振中), the ministry said.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/09/28
By: Ku Chuan and Lilian Wu

Taipei, Sept. 28 (CNA) Taiwan’s stock market will be closed on Tuesday because of Typhoon Dujuan after being closed on Monday for a national holiday.

The Taiwan Futures Exchange will also be closed Tuesday.

The foreign exchange market, which originally planned to open at 2 p.m. on Tuesday, later announced it would be closed all of Tuesday after Taipei reversed course on school and office closings.

Schools and offices will be shut down in Taipei on Tuesday after the city said both would open after noon.

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/09/27
By: Timothy Huang and Evelyn Kao

New York, Sept. 27 (CNA) A group from National Chengchi University in Taipei called IMPCT won this year’s Hult Prize and was presented US$1 million in prize money by former U.S. President Bill Clinton at a ceremony in Manhattan, New York Saturday.

The Hult Prize is an annul million-dollar business plan competition sponsored by the Clinton Global Initiative that holds five regional competitions around the world. It has awarded one startup idea per year since 2009 on a specific topic of global social importance with the aim of generating market-based solutions to the world’s most pressing social issues.

This year’s challenge was to provide quality early childhood education to over 10 million children in urban slums by 2020.

National Chengchi University’s Team IMPCT emerged as the top prize winners of this year’s challenge with its “online round” crowdfunding program.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/09/27
By: Huang Chiao-wen and Maria Tsai

Taipei Sept. 27 (CNA) The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) reported on Friday that the production value of the local contact lens sector is expected to reach a record NT$11 billion (US$333.57 million) this year.

In the first seven months of the year, the value of production in the sector reached NT$6.4 billion, up 12.8 percent from a year earlier, the MOEA said.

Last year, production value increased to NT$9.9 billion, almost double the NT$5.1 billion in 2011, according to the ministry.

As a result of the industry’s rapid growth, several local companies have invested in the sector, including Largan Precision Co. (大立光), Pegatron Crop. (和碩) and BenQ Materials, a ministry official said.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-09-27
By: CNA

Taiwan has asked India to enter negotiations under a dispute settlement mechanism of the

World Trade Organization on an anti-dumping penalty the South Asian country imposed in May against Taiwanese USB flash drive exporters, according to the country’s Ministry of Economic Affairs.

The ministry said India’s anti-dumping tariffs against Taiwan’s USB flash drive exporters were imposed after a flawed investigation process by Indian authorities, adding that the financial penalty has inflicted serious financial damage to Taiwan’s exporters.

In June 2014, India launched an investigation to probe accusations that USB flash drive exporters from Taiwan, China and South Korea dumped their products into the Indian market at unfairly low prices.     [FULL  STORY]