The nation's major industrial groups yesterday called on the anti-President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) group not to go on strike, warning that the drastic measure would hurt Taiwan's economic growth and cause long-term political instability.
The warning came after Shih Ming-teh (施明德), leader of the sit-in campaign to oust Chen, said on Thursday that they would consider launching a nationwide strike to force Chen to step down.
"We respect different political stances, but we are shocked and deeply worried about the proposal of staging a strike as a major appeal," said the nation's six major industrial groups in a joint statement released yesterday.
The six industrial groups include the Chinese National Federation of Industries (工總) and Taiwan Electrical and Electronic Manufacturers' Association (電電工會), which represent at least 14,000 Taiwanese companies in the electronic and traditional industries.
A massive strike would "severely dampen foreign and local investor's confidence causing a loss of export orders and freezing industrial activities," the statement read.
On Thursday, Minister of Economic Affairs Steve Chen (陳瑞隆) warned that Taiwan's economy could not afford a strike as such a move would severely affect investor confidence and impact investment in Taiwan, leading to an economic slow-down from which all would suffer.
The nation's economy will suffer NT$30 billion (US$910.9 million) a day in lost production value in the event of a nationwide strike, according to an estimate by the Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (台經院).
But, experts did not expect an immediate impact to come.
"The strike will heighten the stand-off between people with different political tendencies, which will hurt investor's confidence and thereby Taiwan's stock market," said Cheng Cheng-mount (
But as no substantial plan regarding the scale and duration, of any strike was made by the anti-Chen group, it would be difficult to say how seriously any action would hurt Taiwan's economy, Cheng said.
Cheng said currently the nation's annual growth of 3.9 percent in gross domestic product (GDP) he forecast for this year would renew unchanged.
Andrew Teng (
But, Teng said, he did not expect an immediate impact on the stock market as the campaign to throw out President Chen has not to a decision to stage a strike.
"Besides, with foreign investors' support, I don't expect the TAIEX to plunge," Teng said.
Overseas fund managers bought a net of NT$21 billion worth of local shares during the past five trading sessions, representing their long-term faith in local stocks, according to Teng.
The TAIEX index fell less than 2 percent since the beginning of the week to 6,681.09 points yesterday.
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],”