The government's decision to allow Chinese yuan to be exchanged for New Taiwan dollars on Kinmen and Matsu, as part of a trial run starting on Monday, could finally resolve the long-standing problem of the Chinese currency being illegally circulated on these two outlying islets, George Chou (
"With the regulation in place, the police and investigation agencies will step up efforts to clamp down on unlawful transactions. Illegally traded yuan will be confiscated and transferred to customs," Chou said.
He made the remarks at a joint press conference with Financial Supervisory Commission officials, after Premier Frank Hsieh (
In the initial stage, only the financial institutions that operate branches in Kinmen or Matsu, or the companies commissioned by these institutions, such as travel agencies or hotels, are allowed to change Chinese yuan into NT dollars, Chou said.
The central bank has authorized the Bank of Taiwan's (台灣銀行) three branches, the Lank Bank of Taiwan's (土地銀行) two branches and the Kinmen County Credit Cooperative (金門縣信合社) to conduct the yuan business, he added.
They have been granted autonomy to decide the exchange rate between the yuan and NT dollar.
Chou said that if the trial run is effective -- although no timetable has been set -- the government will consider discussing an agreement with Beijing on a settlement agreement to further open up the yuan-NT exchange market.
"We hope it will happen soon," Chou said.
Residents from Taiwan and China who are qualified to travel across the Taiwan Strait via the "small three links" are entitled to exchange a maximum of 20,000 yuan for NT dollars on each entry or exit. In the mean time, regulations have also been loosened to allow travelers entering or leaving Kinmen or Matsu to carry a maximum of 20,000 yuan, up from 6,000 yuan.
FSC chairman Chairman Kong Jaw-sheng (
"We should not avoid it and must be brave in facing it," he said in response to a question from lawmakers in the legislature yesterday morning.
Separately, Hsieh also announced that commodity taxes on gasoline, diesel and fuel oil will be cut by 25 percent on Saturday for a period of three months.
According to an estimate by the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the cut will deprive the state coffers of NT$6 billion (US$180.3 million) in tax revenue.
In response, the nation's second-largest oil refiner, Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化), immediately decided to slash its wholesale gasoline prices by NT$1.7 per liter.
The treasury faces further income losses after the legislature yesterday passed an amendment in its first reading to exempt taxi drivers from license taxes and fuel charges.
If the regulation is passed after three readings, it would deprive the state coffers of around NT$1.3 billion and benefit nearly 100,000 drivers nationwide, according to an estimate by the Ministry of Transportation and Communications.
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
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
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