US seeks larger market share
US officials on Tuesday expressed interest in making further inroads into Taiwan's service sector markets, particularly the energy, television broadcasting and telecommunications sectors, in talks with Taiwanese officials in Geneva, Switzerland.
Members of the official Taiwan delegation conducted three rounds of talks on Tuesday with the US officials, led by chief negotiator George Becker, who is a counsel to the US Trade Representative Office, on the opening of Taiwan's service market under the WTO framework.
The two sides did not make any commitments during the talks, only exchanging views on an "initial request list," which is expected to be settled in substantive negotiations between the two sides slated to be held after March of next year, according to John Deng (鄧振中), Taiwan's deputy representative at the WTO headquarters in Geneva.
Deng is heading the delegation, which is scheduled to hold 18 rounds of bilateral consultation meetings over the next week with 15 other WTO members on the opening of service sector markets.
Water supplies rerouted
The Ministry of Economic Affairs will cut water supplies in the south by 50 percent to cope with drought and ensure electronics companies have enough water to continue operating, said Yeh Fu-ching (葉輔清), secretary general of a water resource bureau in the south.
Supplies from Tsengwen Reservoir, the main source of water in southern Taiwan, will be cut from 80 percent to 50 percent for agriculture, Yeh said.
Taiwan's largest companies such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) and United Microelectronics Corp (聯電) opened factories in an industrial park in southern Taiwan after a similar park in the north ran out of land. The companies trucked in water to their factories in the north earlier this year after a drought cut water supplies.
Bank to upgrade Vietnam office
First Commercial Bank (第一銀行), Taiwan's largest publicly traded lender by assets, said it received Vietnam's approval to convert its six-year-old representative office in Ho Chi Minh City into a branch.
The lender joins Taiwan's Chinatrust Commercial Bank (中國信託銀行), Chinfon Bank (慶豐銀行) and International Commercial Bank of China (中國商銀) in operating branches in Vietnam.
Taiwan is Vietnam's biggest investor as of the end of 2001, based on total direct and indirect investments, First Commercial said in a statement.
Legislators slam China Steel
Lawmakers yesterday criticized China Steel Corp (中鋼) for exporting its products to China while leaving domestic companies short of supply.
KMT Legislator Chen Chieh (陳杰) and DPP Legislator Chiang Chao-yi (江昭儀) said they are not satisfied with the current situation where China Steel supplies products to China, while starving the domestic market, thereby driving up the price of steel in Taiwan.
China Steel vice president Chen Yuan-cheng (陳源成) responded that Taiwan exported 2.5 million tons of steel to China last year and his company accounted for only more than half a million tons.
Chen said his company will raise production, with an annual output of 10.4 million tons, and will work to cut supply to China.
NT dollar gains
The New Taiwan dollar yesterday rose against its US counterpart, up NT$0.005 to close at NT$34.810 on the Taipei foreign exchange market.
Turnover was US$359 million, compared with the previous day's US$349 million.
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