Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/05/21
By: Wang Shu-feng and Maubo Chang

Taipei, May 21 (CNA) The Transportation Committee of the Legislative Yuan approved a financial reform program for the debt-ridden Taiwan High Speed Rail on Thursday.

Under the program, the Taiwan High Speed Rail Corporation will have to reduce its capital by 60 percent, or NT$39.1 billion (US$1.26 billion), to cover its losses before raising its capital by NT$30 billion, of which NT$24.2 billion will come from the government-managed High Speed Rail Construction Fund, while another NT$5.8 billion will come from state-invested banks.

After that, the stake of the company’s private owners will be decreased from 37.4 percent to 17.4 percent, with the rest lying in the hands of the state-controlled institutes.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Editorial
Date: 2015-05-21

China’s State Council or cabinet has issued a notification on preferential tax polices

for foreign and domestic investments. In the notification, known as Notice No. 25, the authorities confirm that all preferential treatments local governments agreed to grant enterprises in the past will continue to be valid.

The latest governmental order saves foreign and Taiwanese businesses operating in China from the immediate impact of an earlier notification — No. 62 — that required all preferential tax policies to be “cleaned up.”

While recognizing the release of the circular, we would like to suggest to the Taiwanese businesses affected that they face up to China’s changing investment climate and take action to deal with it.

Notice No. 25 stipulates that preferential policies should be implemented as scheduled, that the incentives included in deals between local governments and enterprises continue to be in effect, and that planned preferential tax policies will only be allowed to be carried out after they are approved by the State Council.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/05/20
By: Milly Lin and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, May 20 (CNA) Taiwan’s export orders in April declined 4 percent year-on-year, the first drop since July 2013, according to figures released Wednesday by the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

In terms of specific items, the semiconductor packaging and electronics assembly industries continued to enjoy increasing export orders due to strong international demand for branded handheld devices, such as smartphones and tablet PCs.

The information communications and electronics segment saw export orders rise 6.1 percent year-on-year, while electronics products suffered a 0.9 percent drop in export orders owing to shrinking demand for handheld devices in emerging markets and escalating international price competition.     [FULL  STORY]

Hundreds of fans flock to Razer’s Taiwan store opening and it gets shut down due to safety concerns

Tweak Town
Date: May 19, 2015
By: Chris Smith

Thanks to Razer’s massive fan-base, hundreds of fans flocked to the opening of the RazerStore in the Syntrend Mall in Taipei, Taiwan. Due to so many people turning up, the mall management ordered Razer to suspend its launch activities including give-aways of promotional materials and some peripherals.

In order to appease fans, Razer has offered free Nabu X wearables to the first 250 attendees of each day on the 16th and 17th of May, announcing that the store will be open at normal business hours from 11am until 10pm on these days.     [FULL  STORY]

Today Online
Date: May 18, 2015

TAIPEI — Taiwan has given Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding

six months to wind down its online marketplace Taobao’s operations on the island after it failed to apply for the permit required for a mainland Chinese company to do business there, Taipei authorities said today (May 18).

An official at Taiwan’s Investment Commission said a fine of T$240,000 (S$10,440) has also been imposed on Taobao in what is the second case of an Alibaba operation falling foul of the permit rules for mainland China companies this year. In March, Alibaba.com was told to leave Taiwan within six months and fined T$120,000 for a similar reason.

While the fine is small and Taiwanese shoppers can continue to order goods via Taobao’s mainland base in future, the permits glitch is an unwelcome headache for Alibaba as its seeks to grow business outside its mainland base.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/05/19
By: Tseng Ying-yu and Evelyn Kao

Taipei, May 19 (CNA) The Legislative Yuan accepted Tuesday a decision by the

World Trade Organization (WTO) General Council on Nov. 27, 2014 to adopt the Protocol of Amendment to insert the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) into the Annex 1A of the WTO agreement.

In line with the decision adopted in Bali, WTO members adopted on 27 November 2014 a Protocol of Amendment to insert the new Agreement into Annex 1A of the WTO Agreement. The TFA will enter into force once two-thirds of members have completed their domestic ratification process.

The protocol provides provisions for improved and simplified transit procedures, reduced formalities and documentation requirements, and uniformity in the application of border procedures and customs cooperation among members.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-05-19
By: CNA

Taiwan’s Asustek Computer has released a successor to its low-cost ZenFone

range in the United States to tap into the world’s second-largest smartphone market after China.

Introduced at a press event in New York on Monday, the ZenFone 2 features a 5.5-inch 1080p touchscreen, a quad-core chipset made by Intel, a 13-megapixel rear camera, a 5-megapixel front-facing camera and a 3,000 mAh battery.

The phablet-sized device will be available Tuesday through online retailers such as Amazon, Newegg, B&H Photo and Groupon, with a starting price at US$299 for a 4GB RAM model with 64GB storage capacity and US$199 for a lower-end variant with 2GB of RAM and 16GB of internal capacity.

Prior to the ZenFone 2 launch, Asustek teamed up with US mobile operator AT&T to unveil a phone-and-tablet hybrid called PadFone X in May last year, followed by a smaller variant in October.     [FULL  STORY]