US companies operating in Taiwan are significantly less confident than last year about Taiwan’s economic outlook this year, amid concerns over five key issues — trade disputes, Chinese pressure, cybersecurity, US trade policy and intellectual property rights infringement — the American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei (AmCham) said yesterday.
Based on input from 179 members, AmCham’s annual poll found that only 45.8 percent of respondents were upbeat about the outlook for this year, nearly a 10 percentage point drop from 55.5 percent last year.
However, 53.63 percent were optimistic about local growth over the next three years, slightly higher than last year’s 50.25 percent, AmCham said, adding that sound fundamentals would lend support to domestic growth and predicting that the volatility arising from the five key concerns could end in the next three years.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kung, Taipei Times
The US-China trade dispute is the biggest geopolitical threat to the local economy, followed by pressure from China over Taiwan and the US’ America first trade policy, AmCham chairman Leo Seewald told a news conference in Taipei.
Although the US and China on Dec. 3 announced a 90-day truce, 81 percent of respondents expect the dispute to last longer, Seewald said.
The survey, which was conducted from Nov. 12 to Dec. 21, included “pressure from China over Taiwan” as a geopolitical factor for the first time, with 79 percent of members expressing concern, but most companies said they would be willing to continue their operations in Taiwan as long as the environment remains stable, he said.
Power supply was once again citied as the main operational issue, with 86.59 percent voicing concern over energy sufficiency, up from 84 percent a year earlier, the survey showed.
With regards to the government’s “nuclear-free homeland by 2025” policy, member companies do not favor any kind of energy resources, but are worried how the policy would be implemented, AmCham said.
The passage of Referendum No. 16, which asked people if they agreed to abrogate Article 95-1 of the Electricity Act (電業法), has increased the uncertainty, it said.
“It does not matter how the lights go on, but it matters if they do not go on,” Seewald said.
AmCham advocates revisions to the Labor Standards Act (勞動基準法), as its members feel that current regulations are not flexible enough to meet their needs, with 55.31 percent saying labor issues are likely to be a key factor in their decisions on business expansion in Taiwan.
While more than a third of companies plan to increase employment this year, respondents are less satisfied with their companies’ ability to recruit talent, with the satisfaction rate dropping from 62 percent last year to 59 percent this year.
“It is not a significant drop, but may be a issue if it continues declining, and with young talent moving to Hong Kong and China seeking opportunities, we really need to find a way for them to stay in the nation,” Seewald 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
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
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