ICBC seeks Shanghai partner
Taiwan's International Commercial Bank of China (ICBC, 國際商銀) is seeking strategic partnership with Shanghai-based First Sino Bank to expand its presence in China, a newspaper reported Monday.
Negotiations were being made for the signing of a memorandum of understanding between ICBC, a subsidiary of Mega Financial Holding Co (兆豐金控) and First Sino Bank, the newspaper said.
Mega Financial hoped the partnership could help integrate ICBC's resources to develop investment banking businesses in mainland China, it added.
"We are unable to comment on such an issue," an ICBC official said.
ICBC has received approval from Taiwan's finance ministry to open a representative office in China's southeastern city of Suzhou, near Shanghai, and is waiting clearance from the Chinese authorities for the operation.
UK delegation in Taiwan
A delegation of eight senior executives from six UK companies arrived in Taiwan yesterday for a four-day trip to explore trade and investment opportunities with local business organizations, potential partners, agents, and importers, the British Trade and Cultural Office said in a statement.
The products and services represented on the trade mission include sterilizing machines which are used in healthcare, laboratories and laundry finishing equipment, gearboxes and geared motors, extrusion machines and cold weld equipment for non ferrous metals, visual stimulus generators for vision scientists and related equipment, light trackers and video eyetrackers, fast food chain advisory services to overseas companies, and security services for the port, maritime, rail and logistics industries.
China expects 8.7% growth
China's economy may expand 8.7 percent this year and 9.5 percent next year, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. said in a report, which also raised growth estimates for Hong Kong, South Korea, Taiwan and Singapore.
China's gross domestic product was previously forecast to gain 8.1 percent in 2003 and 8.4 percent next year, the US brokerage said in its research report published today.
The economies of Taiwan and Singapore may expand 5.8 percent next year while South Korea and Hong Kong may grow 6 percent, Goldman Sachs predicted.
Before today's report, Goldman Sachs forecast Taiwan would expand 5 percent next year, Singapore would grow 4.5 percent, South Korea would accelerate to 5 percent and Hong Kong would expand 5.4 percent.
Yuan to keep stable
China's yuan exchange rate mechanism should be kept stable ``for a long term'', the country's foreign exchange regulator said in a statement on its Web site.
``To keep the exchange rate basically stable not only helps China to maintain steady economic growth, but also conforms to the interests of the Asian-Pacific countries and others,'' the State Administration of Foreign Exchange said.
China, which pegs its currency at about 8.3 to the US dollar, is under external pressure to let the yuan appreciate.
NT dollar falls
The Taiwan dollar weakened after the yen and South Korean won dropped, spurring concern the island's central bank will sell to help protect exporters in competition with neighboring countries.
The NT dollar fell 0.1 percent to NT$34.018 from Friday's NT$33.984, according to Taipei Forex Inc.
A rising NT dollar may raise export prices in US currency terms but make it more difficult for the government to achieve its economic growth forecast.
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