As heads of the delegations from the two sides of the Taiwan Strait attending the Boao Forum for Asia 2010 prepared to meet yesterday, Taiwanese delegate Paul Chiu (邱正雄) said the meeting should help future exchanges between the two sides.
Chiu, chairman of the Taiwan-based Bank SinoPac (永豐銀行), was a former vice premier in President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) administration. Chiu said the forum was a good way for the two sides to get to know each other better and to exchange opinions.
The Taiwanese delegation is headed by Fredrick Chien (錢復), a former president of the Control Yuan, and is composed of members of banking and financial institutions.
Chiu said the two sides would discuss financial exchanges in detail during talks on a proposed cross-strait economic cooperation framework agreement.
“No matter what the results might be, they will be better for cross-strait financial exchanges,” he said.
He said Taiwan was awash in funds, which could be properly guided in making investment overseas, such as in China.
Taiwan could provide loans to Taiwanese businesses there with the appropriate credit rating and credit checks, he said.
Taiwan’s financial sector, which is experienced in supporting small and medium-sized enterprises, could also lend its experience in this area to China, Chiu said.
Chiu was also expected to attend a meeting later that day between Chien and Chinese Vice President Xi Jinping (習近平), who is heading the Chinese delegation.
Speaking at the forum, Xi said China must focus on consumption as a driver for growth.
“We must develop the economy mainly by relying on the domestic market and attach great importance to domestic demand, especially consumption demand, in driving economic development,” said Xi, a member of China’s nine-man ruling Politburo Standing Committee.
“It is important that we open our markets even wider, firmly oppose and resist protectionism in all forms, and uphold a fair, free and open global trade and investment system,” Xi said.
Former US Treasury secretary Henry Paulson said separately at the forum yesterday that an appreciation of the yuan would benefit China, as it would give the government a “valuable” tool for controlling inflation in the world’s fastest-growing major economy.
“An appreciation of the yuan would also help spur domestic consumption,” he said.
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],”