The government should respond cautiously to the passage of China's "anti-secession" law as far as the nation's economy is concerned, pundits said yesterday.
Market watchers said it will be hard to forecast developments in the local stock and currency markets until after China's reaction to a planned demonstration by Taiwan on March 26 is known.
The Democratic Progressive Party, the Taiwan Solidarity Union and pro-independence groups plan to launch a rally on March 26 to protest the passage of China's law. President Chen Shui-bian (
Taiwan's economy has become increasingly dependent on China in the recent years, with the country becoming Taiwan's largest trading partner last year. Bilateral trade across the Taiwan Strait, including transactions made through Hong Kong, reached US$82.61 billion last year, a 32.27 percent jump from the previous year, according to statistics from the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
The ministry approved US$6.94 billion of Taiwanese investment in China last year, but with about 2 million Taiwanese people doing business in China now, it is estimated that the real China-bound investment figure far exceeds official statistics.
"The law will not stop Taiwanese businesspeople from doing business in the lucrative Chinese market, but the short-term impact on the financial market is unpredictable," Steve Lin (林祖嘉), an economics professor at National Chengchi University, said in a telephone interview yesterday.
Minister of Economic Affairs Ho Mei-yueh (
The Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD) also expressed concern over the law, suggesting the government carefully review high-tech investment projects in China.
"It is reasonable to do so in terms of national security and industry competitiveness," CEPD vice chairman Thomas Yeh (
Chu Yun-peng (朱雲鵬), head of National Central University's Research Center for Taiwan Economic Development, suggested the government respond carefully.
"If the government reacts to the issue irrationally, the political storm will further negatively impact the nation's financial markets and economic development," Chu said.
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
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