China's plans to cool down its overheating economy may reroute China-bound Taiwanese investors back to their homeland for fresh capital, Vicent Siew (
"Credit-tightening measures, to be adopted by China, are expected to trigger a short-term shock to regional economies, and may include a chill in `China fever,'" Siew told reporters yesterday before making a keynote speech to share his insights from attending the Boao Forum for Asia on April 24 and 25.
Siew, who is also chairman of both the Chung Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER,
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (
Siew said Taiwanese businessmen need not overreact to these measures, which Theodore Huang (
During his keynote speech, Siew, nevertheless, highlighted China's economic importance and contribution in regional and global trade development.
"China has leapt to become the economic hub in the Asia-Pacific region, which every Asian country is focusing on," he said, adding that Chinese leaders have shown great confidence in their past economic achievements.
According to Siew, China has achieved average economic growth of 9.4 percent since 1978 when economic reforms were launched.
China's economy increased in size tenfold from US$147.3 billion in 1978 to US$1.4 trillion last year, while its trade volume grew from US$20.6 billion to US$851.2 billion within the past 25 years and its foreign reserves grew from US$167 million to US$400.3 billion during the same period of time.
To ensure the success of economic reforms launched 25 years ago, China will continue to engage itself with world economies in a peaceful and cooperative way without posing any threats, Siew said, citing a Chinese researcher at the forum.
Under such circumstances, the economic integration between Taiwan and China will be irreversible and reciprocal regardless of an intensification in political confrontation across the Taiwan Strait, Siew said.
Therefore, he urged both countries to adopt practical measures to improve cross-strait economic and political relations.
Siew also urged the Democratic Progressive Party government to quickly remove cross-strait trade barriers, and implement direct links using non-official channels to negotiate with Beijing.
Taiwan could resort to the unofficial Boao forum, which many Chinese political heavyweights would attend, to establish a channel for cross-strait dialogues as well as cross-strait business exchange, he said.
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
Malaysia’s leader yesterday announced plans to build a massive semiconductor design park, aiming to boost the Southeast Asian nation’s role in the global chip industry. A prominent player in the semiconductor industry for decades, Malaysia accounts for an estimated 13 percent of global back-end manufacturing, according to German tech giant Bosch. Now it wants to go beyond production and emerge as a chip design powerhouse too, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said. “I am pleased to announce the largest IC (integrated circuit) Design Park in Southeast Asia, that will house world-class anchor tenants and collaborate with global companies such as Arm [Holdings PLC],”