Taiwanese companies wired more money to China and other overseas markets in the first quarter of the year than in the fourth quarter of last year, although the number of firms investing across the Taiwan Strait dropped by two, the Financial Supervisory Commission said yesterday.
A total of 1,120 listed companies made investments in China as of the end of last quarter, accounting for 77.24 percent of all 1,450 firms that trade their shares on either the Taiwan Stock Exchange or the GRETAI Securities Market, the commission’s data showed.
China-bound funds increased by a total of NT$75 billion (US$2.49 billion), or 4.4 percent, to NT$1.79 trillion as of March, driven by investment in computer and peripheral equipment manufacturing businesses, the commission said.
Taiwanese firms listed on local bourses recorded a combined NT$29.2 billion in profit during the January-to-March period, rising 19.67 percent from the year-ago level, the commission said.
These firms repatriated NT$167.3 billion last quarter, making up 9.35 percent of their original investments, though the amount represented an increase of NT$1.3 billion from the previous quarter, the commission said.
Outbound investments totaled NT$4.36 trillion last quarter if all overseas markets were added together, an increase of 11 percent over the same period last year, led by investment in semiconductor and electronic component businesses, the commission’s statistics showed.
Overseas investments generated NT$39.8 billion in profit last quarter, down 2.9 percent the NT$41 billion achieved a year ago, the commission said, as firms in sectors other than making chips and electronic parts fared weaker.
Meanwhile, the commission approved plans by Concord Futures Corp (康和期貨) to set up a subsidiary in Hong Kong it may engage in cross-border operations.
Concord Futures must still receive permission from Hong Kong authorities, the commission said.
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
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