Boasting management expertise and an impressive track record in revamping state-run enterprises, the new Minister of Economic Affairs Morgan Hwang (
But Hwang's performance in his first two days in office has been rather disappointing and has served only to raise even more doubts in the minds of the public.
The issue that most concerns the business community in the New Year is President Chen Shui-bian's (
Industry heavyweights were understandably keen to get a more explicit interpretation from the new economic minister, but although Hwang tried his best, his seemingly vague and contradictory explanation left reporters attending his first press conference yesterday none the wiser.
At his inauguration ceremony on Wednesday, Hwang said that all governments need to manage their economic policies, claiming that "active management" means "managing the crucial points," and that only through active management would the best results be achieved.
But when asked what the "crucial points" are that he aims to manage at the press conference the next day, the former business professor said that he needs some time to get to know what should be managed and what should not. Still more curiously, he added that the best management would be "no management at all," with businesses abiding by the current regulations.
Hwang appeared contradictory again when he was asked how he would run the ministry.
Running the ministry should be like running a service company, the new minister said, adding that he hopes the ministry will view companies as its customers and aim to fulfill their needs.
The chances of this happening seem slim however, as while local and foreign business groups have called for more liberal regulations on China-bound investments and the lifting of the 40 percent investment cap, Hwang insists that the priority should be maintaining the best interests of the nation.
He also failed to answer questions on his vision for planning and developing local industries and improving the investment environment, replying only that he would try his best to resolve the problems companies have encountered -- indicative of a rather conservative approach to boosting the local economy.
Some may attribute Hwang's out-of-sorts performance to the fact that he has just taken up his post. However, it should be remembered that when his predecessor, Ho Mei-yueh (
CHIP RACE: Three years of overbroad export controls drove foreign competitors to pursue their own AI chips, and ‘cost US taxpayers billions of dollars,’ Nvidia said China has figured out the US strategy for allowing it to buy Nvidia Corp’s H200s and is rejecting the artificial intelligence (AI) chip in favor of domestically developed semiconductors, White House AI adviser David Sacks said, citing news reports. US President Donald Trump on Monday said that he would allow shipments of Nvidia’s H200 chips to China, part of an administration effort backed by Sacks to challenge Chinese tech champions such as Huawei Technologies Co (華為) by bringing US competition to their home market. On Friday, Sacks signaled that he was uncertain about whether that approach would work. “They’re rejecting our chips,” Sacks
NATIONAL SECURITY: Intel’s testing of ACM tools despite US government control ‘highlights egregious gaps in US technology protection policies,’ a former official said Chipmaker Intel Corp has tested chipmaking tools this year from a toolmaker with deep roots in China and two overseas units that were targeted by US sanctions, according to two sources with direct knowledge of the matter. Intel, which fended off calls for its CEO’s resignation from US President Donald Trump in August over his alleged ties to China, got the tools from ACM Research Inc, a Fremont, California-based producer of chipmaking equipment. Two of ACM’s units, based in Shanghai and South Korea, were among a number of firms barred last year from receiving US technology over claims they have
It is challenging to build infrastructure in much of Europe. Constrained budgets and polarized politics tend to undermine long-term projects, forcing officials to react to emergencies rather than plan for the future. Not in Austria. Today, the country is to officially open its Koralmbahn tunnel, the 5.9 billion euro (US$6.9 billion) centerpiece of a groundbreaking new railway that will eventually run from Poland’s Baltic coast to the Adriatic Sea, transforming travel within Austria and positioning the Alpine nation at the forefront of logistics in Europe. “It is Austria’s biggest socio-economic experiment in over a century,” said Eric Kirschner, an economist at Graz-based Joanneum
France is developing domestic production of electric vehicle (EV) batteries with an eye on industrial independence, but Asian experts are proving key in launching operations. In the Verkor factory outside the northern city of Dunkirk, which was inaugurated on Thursday, foreign specialists, notably from South Korea and Malaysia, are training the local staff. Verkor is the third battery gigafactory to open in northern France in a region that has become known as “Battery Valley.” At the Automotive Energy Supply Corp (AESC) factory near the city of Douai, where production has been under way for several months, Chinese engineers and technicians supervise French recruits. “They
RSS