Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou (
Ma quoted Paal as saying that the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) had been losing members over the past few years, indicating that more and more US businesses are leaving Taiwan because of uncertainties regarding the country's major economic policies toward China.
"The number of AmCham members is declining every year," Ma quoted Paal, director of American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), as saying yesterday after a closed-door meeting. "It dropped from 900 to 800 last year, and to 700 this year.
"I asked Paal why US businesses are leaving Taipei, and he said it is mainly because of uncertainties about many of Taiwan's major policies, especially in terms of cross-strait relations.
"Paal said that staying in Taiwan would cause a great deal of inconvenience for these businessmen wanting to travel to China," Ma said.
Ma has long been supportive of opening direct transportation links, and has proposed designating Taipei's Sungshan Airport as the airport that could deal with direct flights with China.
However, the plan is opposed by the DPP administration, which favors Kaohsiung's Hsiaokang International Airport to handle the flights.
The mayor said: "At a time when the Taipei City Government has put tremendous efforts into luring foreign investment to Taipei, this scary figure has sent a worrisome message to us."
"These businessmen ... are leaving Taipei, withdrawing their investments from Taipei," he said.
Paal visited Ma yesterday to congratulate him on his victory in the Taipei mayoral election, and to consult with him on possible post-election pan-blue cooperation.
"Paal showed interest in pan-blue-camp cooperation after the Dec. 7 mayoral election, and he also expressed concerns over economic issues and Taiwan's future development regarding economic revival," Ma told reporters after the 40-minute, close-door meeting.
In addition to the uncertainty regarding cross-strait policies, Ma also said the AIT director had expressed his concerns over the protection of intellectual property rights (IPR).
"The US thinks that Taiwan's protection on IPR is still insufficient," Ma said.
Ma promised he would try to do more to protect IPR.
"Though Taipei City is not in charge of legislation on copyright protection, I gave Paal my promise that the Taipei City Government would do its utmost on this matter by studying better measures to crack down on IPR violations," Ma said.
The mayor also said Paal supported Ma's assertion that Taipei had improved as a place to live over the past four years.
"CNN's correspondent in Asia, originally stationed in Hong Kong, has moved to Tienmu, Taipei, and only goes to Hong Kong for important events. This means that Taipei's living environment is better than that of Hong Kong," Ma said.
AIT spokesperson Judith Mudd-Krijgelmans yesterday said that the AIT had no comment on Ma's remarks to the media regarding the contents of his meeting with Paal.
Paal on Wednesday visited Chang Chun-hsiung (
Paal warned in September this year that if Taiwan continued to see China's market only as a threat, it would risk economic isolation.
"If Taiwan continues to view the mainland through the prism of economic threat, it is in danger of isolating itself and getting cut out of tomorrow's deals," Paal said at an AmCham event on Sept. 18.
He also pressed the government to steer clear of past mistakes and formulate "economic policies that will ultimately unshackle entrepreneurial energy and strengthen all business sectors, from energy to high-tech to financial services."
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) on Wednesday said that a new chip manufacturing technology called “A16” is to enter production in the second half of 2026, setting up a showdown with longtime rival Intel over who can make the fastest chips. TSMC, the world’s biggest contract manufacturer of advanced computing chips and a key supplier to Nvidia and Apple, announced the news at a conference in Santa Clara, California, where TSMC executives said that makers of artificial intelligence (AI) chips will likely be the first adopters of the technology rather than a smartphone maker. Analysts said that the technologies announced on
NO RECIPROCITY: Taipei has called for cross-strait group travel to resume fully, but Beijing is only allowing people from its Fujian Province to travel to Matsu, the MAC said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday criticized an announcement by the Chinese Ministry of Culture and Tourism that it would lift a travel ban to Taiwan only for residents of China’s Fujian Province, saying that the policy does not meet the principles of reciprocity and openness. Chinese Deputy Minister of Culture and Tourism Rao Quan (饒權) yesterday morning told a delegation of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lawmakers in a meeting in Beijing that the ministry would first allow Fujian residents to visit Lienchiang County (Matsu), adding that they would be able to travel to Taiwan proper directly once express ferry
CALL FOR DIALOGUE: The president-elect urged Beijing to engage with Taiwan’s ‘democratically elected and legitimate government’ to promote peace President-elect William Lai (賴清德) yesterday named the new heads of security and cross-strait affairs to take office after his inauguration on May 20, including National Security Council (NSC) Secretary-General Wellington Koo (顧立雄) to be the new defense minister and former Taichung mayor Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) as minister of foreign affairs. While Koo is to head the Ministry of National Defense and presidential aide Lin is to take over as minister of foreign affairs, Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) would be retained as the nation’s intelligence chief, continuing to serve as director-general of the National Security Bureau, Lai told a news conference in Taipei. Koo,
MANAGING DIFFERENCES: In a meeting days after the US president signed a massive foreign aid bill, Antony Blinken raised concerns with the Chinese president about Taiwan US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday met with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and senior Chinese officials, stressing the importance of “responsibly managing” the differences between the US and China as the two sides butt heads over a number of contentious bilateral, regional and global issues, including Taiwan and the South China Sea. Talks between the two sides have increased over the past few months, even as differences have grown. Blinken said he raised concerns with Xi about Taiwan and the South China Sea, along with China’s support for Russia and its invasion of Ukraine, as well as other issues