The Bank of China (中國銀行), one of the first Chinese banks that have been permitted to set up a representative office in Taiwan, held a low-profile inaugural ceremony for its office in Taipei yesterday amid concerns about its impact on Taiwan’s upcoming local elections.
Local media reports cited speculation that the bank’s low-profile opening was the result of a request from Taiwan’s financial regulator, the Financial Supervisory Commission.
The opening comes just weeks before the Nov. 27 elections for mayors, councilors and borough chiefs in Taipei City and four soon-to-be established special municipalities in Taiwan. Some segments of Taiwan’s population are concerned about the government and ruling party opening too much or too fast to Chinese investment.
Commission Chairman Chen Yu-chang (陳裕彰), however, has denied the speculation at the legislature.
A source familiar with the bank’s opening told reporters that bank officials had originally planned a high-profile opening, but that the plans were later scrapped.
Bank of China chairman Xiao Gang (肖鋼), who visited Taiwan for the first time this week, declined to speak to the media following a noon banquet in celebration of the bank’s office opening.
Under existing regulations, Chinese banks are required to operate a representative office in Taiwan for no less than a year before they can seek approval to upgrade the office into a bank branch, which can engage in profit-making operations.
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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