Members of a finance panel meeting for the third time in preparation for late August's Economic Development Advisory Conference yesterday reversed decisions they had made during their previous meeting last Friday.
After more than an hour of debate, the panel decided to reinstate several issues taken from the table during the previous meeting, including a proposal to ban government intervention in both the stock and currency markets.
During last week's meeting, several members who proposed the ban on government intervention stormed out of the meeting after the issue was axed from the agenda.
Squabbling over the issue dominated much of the discussions both last week and yesterday.
"According to the rules of the conference, no panel has the right to veto any proposal made by conference members. Also no government official has the right to veto any proposal, according to comments made by President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁)," said Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆), a New Party legislator and a member of the conference.
"The panel should follow the rules of the game, which is the only way to keep the meeting going," said Fei Horng-tai (
Jeffrey Koo (辜濂松), chairman of Chinatrust Commercial Bank (中國信託銀行) and interim chairman of the last meeting -- said he was in favor of sticking to suggestions made during the previous meeting.
Stepping in to diffuse the situation, Minister of Finance Yen Ching-chang (
The panel also discussed two additional issues; tax-reform and improvement of the financial regulatory system.
Additionally, a number of business representatives at yesterday's meeting proposed that the administration suspend the Securities Transaction Tax (
"There are a total of six proposals on tax-reductions, tax-cuts or tax-exemptions, which would result in NT$200 to NT$300 billion in lost government tax revenue. Unless there are other measures [such as a tax-increase] to counter the proposals, it's impossible for the government to accept any tax-cuts," said Tseng Chu-wei (曾巨威), a professor of public finance of National Chengchi University. Tseng acted as a co-chairman at yesterday's panel meeting.
Currently the administration is operating with an NT$700 billion fiscal deficit, based on NT$1.6 trillion of tax expenditures and NT$900 of tax revenue, according to Lin Chuan (
"What we should do is comprehensive tax reform instead of just cuts on individual taxes," said Lin in the meeting.
Other members also aired views on financial reform and bank merger issues.
"The administration should consider privatizing state banks," said Benny Hu (
The proposal to privatize state banks was also vetoed in the previous meeting.
At least two more panel meetings will be held to further discuss related financial issues. The panel is scheduled to conclude before Aug. 15 and all panels will converge at the main conference held Aug. 24 to Aug. 26.
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
Among the rows of vibrators, rubber torsos and leather harnesses at a Chinese sex toys exhibition in Shanghai this weekend, the beginnings of an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven shift in the industry quietly pulsed. China manufactures about 70 percent of the world’s sex toys, most of it the “hardware” on display at the fair — whether that be technicolor tentacled dildos or hyper-realistic personalized silicone dolls. Yet smart toys have been rising in popularity for some time. Many major European and US brands already offer tech-enhanced products that can enable long-distance love, monitor well-being and even bring people one step closer to
RECORD-BREAKING: TSMC’s net profit last quarter beat market expectations by expanding 8.9% and it was the best first-quarter profit in the chipmaker’s history Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which counts Nvidia Corp as a key customer, yesterday said that artificial intelligence (AI) server chip revenue is set to more than double this year from last year amid rising demand. The chipmaker expects the growth momentum to continue in the next five years with an annual compound growth rate of 50 percent, TSMC chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) told investors yesterday. By 2028, AI chips’ contribution to revenue would climb to about 20 percent from a percentage in the low teens, Wei said. “Almost all the AI innovators are working with TSMC to address the
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six