PR Newswire
August 5, 2015

SAN JOSE, Calif., Aug. 5, 2015 /PRNewswire/ — Lee’s Sandwiches, The World’s Largest

Banh Mi Chain, announced the opening of its first shop in Taiwan, marking the first Lee’s Sandwiches store outside of the United States.  Located next to Taipei Main Station, the busiest transportation hub in Taipei, the new location will be operated in partnership with Taiwan-based HOYII Life Co., Ltd. as part of an exclusive development agreement to open multiple locations in Taiwan in the coming years.  Lee’s Sandwiches expects to expand into other Asian markets in the near future.

“Taiwan represents the first step in Lee’s Sandwiches’ expansion into international markets.  There is tremendous opportunity for us in Taiwan.  We believe that with our partnership with HOYII Life Co., Ltd. and our combined experience, Lee’s Sandwiches will become one of Taiwan’s leading international brands,” said Chieu Le, CEO and President of Lee’s Sandwiches International, Inc.
Lee’s Sandwiches Taiwan is located at HOYII Main Station.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Editorial
Date: 2015-08-05

Despite the dubious effect of the expansionary measures contained in the “program for

boosting the economic strength” recently rolled out by Taiwan’s National Development Council due to the government’s financial shortfall and sluggish private investments, the proposal to study the setup a sovereign wealth fund in the program warrants serious consideration as it can generate extra capital to induce investment.

The idea of a sovereign wealth fund has long been a contentious topic. The program represents the first time for the proposal to be put on the government’s agenda, underscoring the awareness of the need for new conceptual approach for economic development.

Sovereign wealth funds have been embraced by both developed and developing nations — Norway and Finland to name two in the former category, and Indonesia, Malaysia and Vietnam in the latter. There have been new converts to the concept since 2011, including Italy, Russia, Mongolia, Ghana and Mexico, in addition to similar institutions in some states of the US. They are seen as a means to flexibly utilize national assets to facilitate the achievement of government policies.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/08/05
By: Yang Shu-min and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, Aug. 5 (CNA) Economic Affairs Minister John Deng (鄧振中) did not reject on Wednesday a proposal by labor authorities to raise the minimum wage but said business interests were concerned about the timing of such a plan.

The Ministry of Labor is reportedly preparing to raise the minimum wage by 1.5 percent, but the idea drew strong opposition from representatives of Taiwan’s six biggest business associations in a meeting with Deng on Tuesday.

Asked about the issue Wednesday, Deng said the business groups were not totally opposed to raising wages in an appropriate manner, but they insisted that the “timing is very important.”

“Many objective economic indicators such as the consumer price index (CPI) and the unemployment rate have to be taken into consideration when planning to raise the minimum wage,” Deng cited the business groups as saying.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/08/03
By: Lin Che-an, Li Shu-hua and Lauren Hung

Taipei, Aug. 3 (CNA) A pop-up store combining ice cream and comic books, the first of its kind in Taiwan, opened last Friday in Taipei.

The store, located near Ximen MRT Station, was established jointly by Line Webtoon, a global digital comic book service platform, and Cold Stone Creamery, a world-wide ice cream chain store based in the United States.

The store aims to introduce customers to something new and fun this summer, Cold Stone Creamery marketing manager Lin Chi-pei (林奇蓓) said.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-08-02
By: CNA

Disappointed by Taiwan’s lower-than-expected GDP growth for the second quarter of this

year, a European brokerage has sharply cut its target for the Taiwan Stock Exchange Capitalization Weighted Stock Index (Taiex) on the main board.

The brokerage, which asked not to be named, has trimmed its target for the weighted index to 9,180 points from an earlier forecast of 9,900 points, citing concerns over outbound shipments of the bellwether electronics sector.

On Friday, the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) reported that Taiwan’s GDP rose only 0.64%, lagging far behind the DGBAS’s earlier estimate of a 3.05%.

The government agency said that the disappointing second quarter GDP growth largely resulted from worse-than-expected exports at a time when global demand remained weak. In the April-June period, Taiwan’s merchandise and service exports fell 1.30% from a year earlier, compared with an earlier forecast of 3.27% growth.     [FULL  STORY]