Top negotiators from Taiwan and China plan to meet later this year for talks on a free trade agreement-like deal that would bring the two economies closer, a ruling party official said yesterday.
The negotiators will meet in Taiwan to talk about the economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) after the nation holds local elections in early December, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Secretary-General Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) said.
PROPOSED DEAL
The proposed deal would cut tariffs and allow a freer flow of goods between Taiwan, where the economy is sagging, and economic powerhouse China, the government has said.
“The talks will be an exchange of ideas with financial topics in the lead,” Wu said in an interview. “The question of ECFA will be discussed in its initial stages.”
The trade deal is crucial to keeping Taiwan competitive with other Asian economies that have signed similar deals with China, supporters said, but opponents say the deal could make the nation too dependent on its larger neighbor.
FOURTH MEETING
Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) from the Straits Exchange Foundation and his Chinese counterpart Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) will lead the two sides for the talks in December, their fourth meeting since President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) took office in May last year.
The People’s Republic of China has claimed sovereignty over Taiwan since 1949, when Mao Zedong’s (毛澤東) Communists won the Chinese civil war and Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) KMT fled to Taiwan. Beijing has vowed to bring Taiwan under its rule, by force if necessary.
BYPASSING CHINA TARIFFS: In the first five months of this year, Foxconn sent US$4.4bn of iPhones to the US from India, compared with US$3.7bn in the whole of last year Nearly all the iPhones exported by Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團) from India went to the US between March and last month, customs data showed, far above last year’s average of 50 percent and a clear sign of Apple Inc’s efforts to bypass high US tariffs imposed on China. The numbers, being reported by Reuters for the first time, show that Apple has realigned its India exports to almost exclusively serve the US market, when previously the devices were more widely distributed to nations including the Netherlands and the Czech Republic. During March to last month, Foxconn, known as Hon Hai Precision Industry
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and the University of Tokyo (UTokyo) yesterday announced the launch of the TSMC-UTokyo Lab to promote advanced semiconductor research, education and talent development. The lab is TSMC’s first laboratory collaboration with a university outside Taiwan, the company said in a statement. The lab would leverage “the extensive knowledge, experience, and creativity” of both institutions, the company said. It is located in the Asano Section of UTokyo’s Hongo, Tokyo, campus and would be managed by UTokyo faculty, guided by directors from UTokyo and TSMC, the company said. TSMC began working with UTokyo in 2019, resulting in 21 research projects,
Taiwan’s property market is entering a freeze, with mortgage activity across the nation’s six largest cities plummeting in the first quarter, H&B Realty Co (住商不動產) said yesterday, citing mounting pressure on housing demand amid tighter lending rules and regulatory curbs. Mortgage applications in Taipei, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Taichung, Tainan and Kaohsiung totaled 28,078 from January to March, a sharp 36.3 percent decline from 44,082 in the same period last year, the nation’s largest real-estate brokerage by franchise said, citing data from the Joint Credit Information Center (JCIC, 聯徵中心). “The simultaneous decline across all six cities reflects just how drastically the market
Ashton Hall’s morning routine involves dunking his head in iced Saratoga Spring Water. For the company that sells the bottled water — Hall’s brand of choice for drinking, brushing his teeth and submerging himself — that is fantastic news. “We’re so thankful to this incredible fitness influencer called Ashton Hall,” Saratoga owner Primo Brands Corp’s CEO Robbert Rietbroek said on an earnings call after Hall’s morning routine video went viral. “He really helped put our brand on the map.” Primo Brands, which was not affiliated with Hall when he made his video, is among the increasing number of companies benefiting from influencer
RSS