China's biggest trade deficit last year was with Taiwan, while "intra-industry" cross-strait trade accounted for more than half of China's total trade, according to a WTO report released on Saturday.
The report said that although Taiwan bans the import of about 2,000 categories of products from China, its huge trade surplus and intra-industry trade with China indicated that cross-strait trade has continued to increase.
According to a trade policy review on China to be published soon by the WTO Secretariat, Taiwan enjoyed a trade surplus of US$58 billion with China last year, topping all countries, including South Korea, which posted a surplus of US$42 billion with China in the same year, giving it the second-highest surplus with China, while Japan was in third place with US$16.5 billion.
The report suggested that Taiwan's, South Korea's and Japan's huge trade surpluses with China partly reflect the huge levels of investment and high number of manufacturing operations these countries maintain in China.
The report said that Taiwan, South Korea and Japan have "exported" their trade surpluses with the US and the EU to China by investing in, producing and exporting their products from China.
According to the report, Taiwan was China's third-largest source of imports last year, at 11.3 percent, behind Japan, at 15.2 percent, and South Korea, at 11.6 percent.
The trade policy review was the first of its kind since China was admitted into the WTO in January 2002.
China's ballooning export trade over the past three years has caused concern among other WTO member countries over whether China's foreign trade systems and policies are in line with international trade regulations and whether China has delivered on its promises upon its WTO accession, according to the report.
The report indicated that the US, Hong Kong and the EU were China's top three export markets last year, with China enjoying trade surpluses topping US$114 billion, US$112 billion and US$70 billion, respectively.
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
FUTURE PLANS: Although the electric vehicle market is getting more competitive, Hon Hai would stick to its goal of seizing a 5 percent share globally, Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), a major iPhone assembler and supplier of artificial intelligence (AI) servers powered by Nvidia Corp’s chips, yesterday said it has introduced a rotating chief executive structure as part of the company’s efforts to cultivate future leaders and to enhance corporate governance. The 50-year-old contract electronics maker reported sizable revenue of NT$6.16 trillion (US$189.67 billion) last year. Hon Hai, also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), has been under the control of one man almost since its inception. A rotating CEO system is a rarity among Taiwanese businesses. Hon Hai has given leaders of the company’s six