■ ENTREPRENEURSHIP
NT$2bn in loans on offer
Business start-up loans totaling NT$2 billion (US$65.7 million) are available for young entrepreneurs this year, an offer that is expected to help 2,000 Taiwanese start their own businesses and create approximately 7,000 jobs, Council of Economic Planning and Development officials said yesterday. The sum was jointly provided by domestic banks and the government’s Sino-American Fund for Economic and Social Development, council officials said. To encourage youth entrepreneurship, the council and the National Youth Commission on May 1 lowered the interest rate for the start-up loans, and extended the repayment period of non-secured loans to six years and that of secured loans to 10 years. The loans are open to people aged 20 to 45 who have job experience or have received training provided by accredited agencies.
■ BOOKS
Chain to close China outlets
Media multinational Bertelsmann said on Friday it would close its chain of 36 bookshops in China, effective from July 1, because the 21st Century retail chain had failed to turn a profit. The company said at its German head office in Guetersloh that it had announced the move the same day in Beijing to the 200 staff. The business had failed to achieve its targets, said Bertelsmann, which is both a book publisher and retailer as well as a major music and TV investor. Bertelsmann said it would continue to invest in China as one of its most important markets.
■ AVIATION
Guam-HK flights suspended
Continental Micronesia has cut flights linking Guam with Hong Kong and Bali, citing higher fuel costs and lower demand. Nonstop flights between this US territory and Hong Kong will be suspended on July 28, while Guam-Bali nonstop flights will end on Oct. 2, the company said. Flights between Saipan, the US Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands and Manila will also end on July 16. “The record fuel costs, combined with lower customer demand in these markets, led to the decision to suspend service,” Continental Micronesia CEO and president Mark Erwin said. Continental Micronesia will continue to offer daily service between Saipan and Manila through Guam, it said.
■ INVESTMENT
Singaporeans not saving
Nearly half of Singapore’s affluent residents have yet to start saving for their retirement, although they would like to stop working in their mid-50s, a poll said yesterday. Only 25 percent were turning to professionals for advice, preferring their family and friends instead, said the findings emerging from the Zurich International Life (ZIL) Wealth Monitor that were published in the Straits Times. While 69 percent said they would rather save for the future than spend excessively now, few were doing so. The 400 queried, including 200 expatriates, earned S$8,000 (US$5,970) to S$10,000 a month.
■ AUTOMAKERS
Chrysler raising prices
Chrysler LLC is raising prices by an average 2 percent on most of its remaining vehicles for this year in response to rising costs of steel and other raw materials. The increase will take effect on vehicles shipped to dealers starting tomorrow, and won’t affect vehicles already in dealers’ inventories. Chrysler spokesman Stuart Schorr says the increase will bring the Auburn Hills, Michigan-based automaker’s total model year price increase in line with those of key competitors. Chrysler’s sales were down 25 percent last month.
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
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
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last