Shanghaiist
Date: Apr 10, 2015
By: Lucy Liu

Just a day after the “New March Deal” was announced in China, a Taiwanese businessman based in Hangzhou paid a 330,000 USD downpayment for an apartment at a Hangzhou property company, and all in cash.

The People’s Bank of China along with the housing ministry and banking regulator announced on March 30 that buyers of second homes would only be required to make a minimum down payment of 40 percent, down from the previous 60 percent.

The new rules are meant to “promote a healthy development of the housing market” by encouraging potential buyers to “take the plunge”. In this case, it seemed to do the trick.     [FULL  STORY]

BEIJING-SEOUL DEAL:An Industrial Development Bureau official said that a previous evaluation of the impact of the trade deal was not run by the ministry

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 11, 2015
By: Lauly Li  /  Staff reporter

Taiwan’s industrial sector could lose US$6 billion at most and at least US$2.341 billion

annually in the years after the China-South Korea free-trade agreement (FTA) goes into effect, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday.

The latest impact evaluation is far less than the ministry’s previous assessment of a potential loss of between NT$260 billion and NT$650 billion (US$8.32 billion to US$20.8 billion) per year, though the ministry denied it had provided the earlier report.

The ministry attributed the lower assessment to tariff reductions by China on goods imported from South Korea being less than the ministry had expected.     [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2015/04/10
By: Huang Chiao-wen and Scully Hsiao

Taipei, April 10 (CNA) A free trade agreement between China and South will begin to hurt Taiwan’s economy within a year after it takes effect, as South Korean products made cheaper by lower tariffs gain an edge over Taiwanese goods in China, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said Friday.

Taiwanese exporters are expected to lose an estimated US$6 million to US$17 million in orders to South Korean rivals in the year after the pact takes effect, pulling down economic growth by 0.04 percent, according to a ministry report on the deal’s impact on Taiwan.

Losses will increase to between US$1.92 billion and US$4.25 billion within a decade after the agreement is put in place, the report forecast.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-04-10
By: CNA

Standards and Poor’s on Thursday maintained its favorable outlook for Taiwan by keeping its

“AA-” sovereign credit rating unchanged.

The international credit rating agency said that Taiwan’s credit rating is a reflection of its strong monetary flexibility, sound monetary management, and ability to maintain one of Asia’s lowest inflation rates.

The agency also lauded Taiwan’s lively private sector, moderate government debts and strong external position, with foreign reserves tallied at US$414.7 billion as of the end of March, down US$3.1 billion month-on-month.     [FULL  STORY]

Want China Times
Date: 2015-04-09
By: Staff Reporter

China has so far approved the establishment of four free trade zones (FTZs), which will further

expand into eight FTZs, bringing new rounds of both competition and cooperation between cities and regions, reports the Guangzhou-based 21st Century Business Herald, citing an unnamed insider at one research institution.

The four approved FTAs are Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangdong and Fujian, but each of the latter two has three subzones.

Although the provincial governments of Guangdong and Fujian have tried to coordinate their subzones, they tend to operate independently as each has its own characteristics.     [FULL  STORY]

Forbes
Date: 4/07/2015
By: Ralph Jennings, Contributor

Taiwan has filed a letter of intent to join an Asian infrastructure development bank led by

China, a risky venture as Beijing claims sovereignty over the proudly self-ruled applicant and the two once bitter rivals have tested economic cooperation only over the past seven years. A lot of Taiwanese still fear China will use economic ties to erode their island’s de facto autonomy. Officials in Beijing say they welcome Taiwan’s application to the Asian Infrastructure Development Bank, which is due to launch by year’s end with money pooled from at least 27 member nations for total subscribed capital of $50 billion. Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou’s government dismisses public anxiety and says membership in the bank would help the export-driven island economy integrate better into the rest of Asia. The two sides will negotiate through mid-month, Taiwan’s Ministry of Finance estimates.     [FULL  STORY]