President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday expressed confidence in his administration, which he said would revitalize Taiwan’s economy in the next couple of years, reassuring foreign investors that “now is the right time for [you] to invest in Taiwan.”
In his opening speech at the 2008 Business Alliance Conference in Taipei, Ma described his administration’s efforts in pursuing external peace by negotiating with the Chinese government on the deregulation of cross-strait policies, the free exchange between the New Taiwan dollar and the yuan, and the launch of weekend cross-strait charter flights.
“This is unprecedented … the first time in 60 years,” Ma said.
PHOTO: CHANG CHIA-MING, TAIPEI TIMES
Ma added that the government’s raising of a cap for China-bound investments from 40 percent of a company’s net value to 60 percent would encourage Taiwanese companies to invest in China while improving the local investment environment and attracting foreign investment.
Ma also said that the nation’s highly educated workforce and its important geographical location were good reasons why foreign companies should consider investing here.
Following his speech, Ma presented Best Investment Partner Awards to nine foreign companies operating in Taiwan.
The awards recognize contributions to the domestic economy, and this year’s recipients were Asahi Glass Co (旭硝子), American International Group Inc, Citi Taiwan (台灣花旗), Corning Display Technologies Taiwan, Dai Nippon Printing Co, Elpida Memory Inc, Kingston Technology Company, Nissan Motor Co and Texas Instruments Taiwan Ltd.
Richard McCormack, vice chairman of Merrill Lynch & Co, predicted in his keynote speech yesterday that the US housing crisis would likely continue for another year or two.
He urged the US government to continue with measures that assist in stabilizing banking and financial institutions, while making the financial system safer by allowing less leverage and introducing more transparency.
McCormack also warned of rising inflationary pressures, urging central banks around the world not to delay revision of policies before deflation or inflation embedded themselves deeply in local economies.
But McCormack said that he was optimistic, adding that things would look up at some point in a year or two as part of the business cycle.
McCormack closed his speech with a slogan from perhaps the US’ most famous and successful long-term investor, Warren Buffett: “When others are greedy, I become careful. But when others are fearful, I become greedy.”
Around 1,400 guests from 33 countries, including the US, Japan, Australia and Germany, registered to attend this year’s conference, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said.
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
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],”
Sales in the retail, and food and beverage sectors last month continued to rise, increasing 0.7 percent and 13.6 percent respectively from a year earlier, setting record highs for the month of March, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said yesterday. Sales in the wholesale sector also grew last month by 4.6 annually, mainly due to the business opportunities for emerging applications related to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing technologies, the ministry said in a report. The ministry forecast that retail, and food and beverage sales this month would retain their growth momentum as the former would benefit from Tomb Sweeping Day
Thousands of parents in Singapore are furious after a Cordlife Group Ltd (康盛人生集團), a major operator of cord blood banks in Asia, irreparably damaged their children’s samples through improper handling, with some now pursuing legal action. The ongoing case, one of the worst to hit the largely untested industry, has renewed concerns over companies marketing themselves to anxious parents with mostly unproven assurances. This has implications across the region, given Cordlife’s operations in Hong Kong, Macau, Indonesia, the Philippines and India. The parents paid for years to have their infants’ cord blood stored, with the understanding that the stem cells they contained