■ Investment climate good
Taiwan's investment environment will be the third-best in the world over the next five years, as ranked by the Economist Intelligence Unit, following Singapore and Hong Kong, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. In a report, "County Forecast: Global Outlook," published in September, the EIU used 10 indicators to evaluate Taiwan's investment climate, including political environment, macroeconomic environment, market opportunity, private competition, foreign capital policy, foreign exchange policy, taxation, labor market and infrastructure construction. The EIU predicts Taiwan's GDP will increase by 5.8 percent this year, and will maintain an average rate of 4.7 percent between 2005 and 2008.
■ Firms release `value card'
E.Sun Commercial Bank (玉山銀行) and Taipei's Hoover Cinema (豪華戲院) yesterday announced plans to issue a co-branded stored-value card, allowing moviegoers to enjoy benefits and make purchases without the use of cash. In cooperation with Mondex Taiwan Inc, cardholders can also use the card in Hi-Life (萊爾富) stores, at Barista Coffee (西雅圖咖啡), lottery booths and other shops that bear the Mondex sign. Aimed at enhancing customer loyalty, the program requires NT$100 for each card application and cardholders can use cash or their E.Sun credit cards to add value.
■ NT dollar strengthens
The New Taiwan dollar rose yesterday against its US counterpart, up NT$0.055 to close at NT$33.427 on the Taipei foreign exchange market. Turnover was US$517 million.
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
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
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