RETAIL
24-hour Eslite to stay put
Eslite (誠品) bookstore chain said on Saturday that the lease of its landmark 24-hour store in downtown Taipei is secure for at least another six years, even though the building’s ownership has changed hands. The 12-story Dunnan Financial Building where the store is located has been sold to Grand Industrial Limited Company of Baofeng (寶豐隆興業), according to the building’s previous owner, Cathay Life Insurance Co (國泰人壽). Grand Industrial Ltd is owned by Tsai Chen-yu (蔡鎮宇), a former vice chairman of Cathay Financial Holdings Co (國泰金控) and a brother of Cathay Financial chairman Tsai Hong-tu (蔡宏圖). The deal drew concerns over whether the popular bookstore would still be able to operate there. Eslite Bookstore said the transaction would not affect the store’s lease.
CHINA
Group seeks investment
A delegation organized by the Taipei-based Chinese National Federation of Industries is to depart for China today to seek investment, the federation said. The group of more than 10 business executives, accountants and lawyers from Taipei is to stop in Shanghai, Suzhou and Kunshan during the five-day visit, the federation said. Besides holding investment conferences in Shanghai and Suzhou, the delegates are to visit local businesses from the wholesale, retail, logistics, biotechnology, and information and communications technology sectors. With outward foreign direct investment totaling US$87.8 billion, China is the world’s third-largest investor, the federation said. However, new Chinese investments in Taiwan have declined. During the first seven months of this year, Taiwanese authorities approved 76 investment plans — worth US$173 million — by Chinese companies, which was a decrease from last year, the federation 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
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
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
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last