With Taiwan set to issue its first-ever NT$2,000 bank note on July 1, consumers gave the new currency the thumbs down yesterday.
"I don't understand why we need NT$2,000 bills ? it's will be very inconvenient to use such large denominations," said Chen Huei-li (陳惠麗), 43, mother of three.
Sometimes even the NT$1,000 note is too large and she has to exchange it into small notes before using it, she said.
PHOTO: GEORGE TSORNG, TAIPEI TIMES
"I object to this new measure ? there are already too many different bills in circulation," said Chen Tsai-yin (
Few big spenders want to carry around wads of cash and most customers preferring to pay by credit card rather than by cash, Chen said.
"Therefore I say the NT$2,000 bank note is not necessary," he said.
The central bank unveiled a new NT$2,000 bank note yesterday, saying that starting from July 1, banks across the nation will be issued the new currency.
Chang Fu-kuo (
"We want to offer more currency options to the public," Chang said.
In contrast, several retail-outlet operators said the new bill is actually an "inconvenience."
"This means I have to prepare more cash to make change for customers," said Tsai Meng-hung (
Many consumers come to supermarkets or convenience stores not to buy products, but to get change for their NT$1,000 bills, he said. "Sometimes they use an NT$1,000 bill to pay for an NT$18 pack of chewing gum or an NT$20 soft drink," Tsai said.
Making change is also a task many Taipei taxi drivers prefer not to engage in.
"The difficulty of exchanging the NT$1,000 bill is already a headache, and now how am I supposed to deal with the NT$2,000 bills?" said Huang Chen-chung (
Huang said he may not accept the new bills at all.
"I may just put a sign in my car window telling passengers I don't accept NT$2,000 bill," he said.
And counterfeit currency has been a lingering problem in Taiwan.
"I have already lost money after receiving fake NT$1,000 bills, and after July I might lose more from the fake NT$2,000 notes," Huang said.
In response to the public's fear over bogus bank notes, the government has included several advanced security features on all the new bills.
"By checking the watermarks, metallic thread and optical lines, the public can easily tell the difference between genuine and fake bills," Chang said.
Chang vowed that the new bills were only rivaled by the euro for their anti-counterfeit measures.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last