It might soon be possible to buy the Chinese yuan at designated banks on the outlying islands of Kinmen and Matsu, according to the nation's top cross-strait policymaking body.
Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Chairman Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) explained yesterday that it was possible that Taiwan replicate the currency conversion mechanism adopted by Hong Kong since its return to Chinese sovereignty. According to Wu, an agreement had been signed between Chinese and Hong Kong banking representatives in both countries to allow for currency conversions at specific banks.
"One possibility is to have the People's Bank of China (中國人民銀行) [China's central bank] and Taiwan's Central Bank (央行) sign an agreement to allow for currency conversion at certain sites," Wu said.
According to the Act Governing Relations between the Peoples of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area [兩岸人民關係條例], Chinese currency exchanges cannot be offered in Taiwan unless a bilateral currency settlement agreement is signed. The act allows, however, for pilot programs offering Chinese currency conversions to be established on the outlying islands Kinmen and Matsu.
While the council stressed that there was no specific timetable for the implementation of these pilot programs, MAC Vice Chairman Chiu Tai-san (邱太三) said yesterday that it would be ideal if the launch of the pilot programs could coincide with the start of Chinese tourism in Kinmen and Matsu.
A recent lift on travel bans imposed by the Chinese government is slated to bring an increased number of tourists from Fujian to the two offshore islands for visits. While Chiu said yesterday that the government was unclear as to when China would begin to allow tourists on Kinmen and Matsu, Kinmen Legislator Wu Cheng-tien (吳成典) said he expects tourists to begin arriving before the legislative elections.
"In terms of policymaking, we are looking into the possible problems and situations that the new tourism policies could pose," Chiu said.
He explained that the Central Bank was studying the pilot program, assuming that around 700 Chinese yuan [NT$2,700], the amount tourists are estimated to need on Kinmen, will be bought.
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],”