Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/06/01
By: Huang Chiao-wen and Kuo Chung-han

Taipei, June 1 (CNA) Presidential spokesman Charles Chen (陳以信) on Monday said

political parties should be serious in coping with the impact of China-South Korea free trade agreement (FTA) on Taiwan’s economy, as an official study estimated that Taiwanese exporters could lose US$2.34 billion to US$6.0 billion to their Korean rivals by 2035.

Chen also urged the Legislature to speed up its review of a bill on monitoring pacts between Taipei and Beijing and the trade-in-services agreement with Beijing signed in June of 2013.

Taiwan’s real GDP (gross domestic product) will decrease by 0.04 percentage point one year after the China-South Korea FTA takes effect, according to a study commissioned by the Ministry of the Economic Affairs (MOEA) released in April.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-05-31
By: CNA

The Taiwan Stock Exchange Capitalization Weighted Stock Index (Taiex) could

challenge 10,000 points later this year on the back of ample liquidity and optimism toward corporate earnings, a local fund manager said Saturday.

Chan Chu-kuang, manager of the BlackRock Baoli Fund, said that although the US Federal Reserve could raise interest rates later this year, other major economies such as China, Europe and Australia are still easing their monetary policies, keeping market liquidity at high levels.

Chan said that listed companies on the local main board are expected to post a more-than 10% year-on-year increase in earnings in 2015, and such a strong bottom line will put the Taiwan market ahead of many of its rivals in Asia.

In May, the weighted index fell 1.21% from a month earlier, with the index falling into consolidation mode amid cautious sentiment after the market repeatedly breached 10,000 points in late April but failed to close above that level.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/05/31
By: Wang Shu-feng and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, May 31 (CNA) V Air, a low-cost subsidiary of Taiwan’s TransAsia Airways, announced it will suspend air service between Taipei and Macau from July 10, three months after it commenced operations on the route on April 10.

The airline said that air tickets for flights on the route will be available until July 10.

With a low passenger loading rate of only 40 percent since the new air service was launched, the airline decided to suspend the service, according to V Air.

The choice of V Air’s flight schedules is not ideal, making the company less competitive in the market.     [FULL  STORY]

ANNUAL SHOW:The trade fair will be held in three of the Taiwan World Trade Center’s halls and the Taipei International Convention Center from tomorrow through Saturday

Taipei Times
Date: Jun 01, 2015
By: Lauly Li  /  Staff reporter

The Internet of Things (IoT) and wearable devices are still the major trends for this

year’s Computex Taipei, having become more mature than a year ago, analysts said.

“While there was a lot of noise about Apple’s Inc’s Apple Watch in terms of demand and supply, we are positive about wearable device market,” JPMorgan Securities Ltd analysts led by William Chen (陳威元) said in a report released on Tuesday.

JPMorgan forecast the market value of wearable devices, which range from smart watches, smart bracelets to smart glasses and even smart garments, would grow to US$40 billion by 2020.

International Data Corp (IDC) predicted global wearable device shipments would hit 45.70 million units this year, with smart wristwear devices accounting for about 90 percent of total shipments, compared with 19.60 million units last year.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/05/29
By: Chen Cheng-wei, Zoe Wei and Scully Hsiao

Taipei, May 29 (CNA) Some 23.5 percent of the people in Taiwan’s industrial and service sectors saw their wages increase in 2014, a much needed boost for the nation’s workforce as they face stagnant wages and rising costs, official data showed Friday.

Among those who received more pay, 36.3 percent got raises in the form of increases in their regular salaries, higher than the 23.5 percent in 2012 and 27.2 percent in 2013, but lower than the 36.7 percent in 2011, according to a survey by Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics.

According to the survey, 15.8 percent of the businesses that gave raises gave them across-the-board, while 7.7 percent gave them only to some of their employees.

Of the raises, 6.9 percent were less than 3 percent, followed by 6.7 percent, which were between 3 to 6 percent.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-05-28
By: CNA

Nine electronics products received golden Best Choice Awards on Wednesday from

organizers of Computex Taipei, the world’s second biggest computer trade show, that honored their innovation, functionality and market potential.

Reviewed and selected by a committee of experts from the technology industry, academic community, media groups and government, the Best Choice Award recognizes distinctive products that set the future standard for the technology industry, the Taiwan Computer Association (TCA) said.

The nine products winning the Best Choice Golden Award included Acer’s mini-PC Revo One, Etron Technology’s USB Type-C switch and power delivery semiconductor controller EJ988, and Marson Technology’s mini Barcode scanner MT1195.     [FULL  STORY]

Taipei Times
Date: May 29, 2015
By: Alison Hsiao  /  Staff reporter

Deputy Legislative Speaker Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) yesterday released a survey showing that she has the backing of almost 68 percent of KMT supporters if she is the only potential Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) candidate for the presidential election in January.

Hung released the survey yesterday afternoon, after complaining in the morning that it would be against KMT policy if a poll required as part of the party primary pits her against Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson and presidential candidate Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), as party rules state that it should be a standalone survey to test a candidate’s popularity.

She added that she would like her NT$7 million (US$227,265) back — the fee she paid to join the primary — “if party headquarters has no plans for me to hold policy presentations, so I can do it myself.”     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/05/28
By: Lee Hsin-Yin

Taipei, May 28 (CNA) Vietnamese budget airline VietJet launched a promotional

campaign Thursday, offering 50,000 tickets for travel to Vietnam at discounted rates or free of cost.

The campaign, which runs through June 20, is offering reduced fares for VietJet’s domestic flights and those between Vietnam and Taiwan, South Korea, Singapore, and Thailand.

A random number of tickets will be allocated 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. each day during the promotional period, the airline said, urging travelers to try their luck on its website.     [FULL  STORY]