Concern that the solar industry could be represented by Chinese manufacturers in a US anti-dumping investigation was temporarily relieved, but the government said it would watch the case closely, a government official said yesterday.
An official familiar with the case yesterday confirmed reports that the US International Trade Commission would select respondents from Taiwanese manufacturers — rather than from Chinese companies — to speak for Taiwanese firms involved in the case.
Submissions for the investigation’s Quantity and Value Questionnaire closed on Feb. 19 and the US Department of Commerce did not receive any responses from Chinese photovoltaic manufacturers, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
All submissions were made by Taiwanese firms and the commission would only select defendants from companies that had made the deadline, so Taiwanese photovoltaic makers would be able to defend their own interests and rights, the official said.
The commission launched an investigation last month in response to a renewed complaint by the US arm of German firm SolarWorld AG over Chinese solar energy companies that allegedly sidestepped US antidumping and countervailing duties by outsourcing photovoltaic solar cell production to Taiwan. It ruled on Feb. 14 that the practice had caused material injury to US solar producers.
According to the Bureau of Foreign Trade, 21 Taiwanese firms were involved in the case, including the Neo Solar Power Corp and Motech industries Inc, the nation’s solar cell makers that sell the most photovoltaic products to the US.
During the Lunar New Year period, two Chinese photovoltaic makers, Yingli Green Energy and Hanwha SolarOne stated in a petition filed to the Department of Commerce that they hoped to respond to investigators on behalf of the Taiwanese firms.
Reports say the respondents were to be selected today.
The official said that the government was not aware a date for the selection to be made, but that it would keep a close eye on the case and assist the solar industry to defend itself.
Former Czech Republic-based Taiwanese researcher Cheng Yu-chin (鄭宇欽) has been sentenced to seven years in prison on espionage-related charges, China’s Ministry of State Security announced yesterday. China said Cheng was a spy for Taiwan who “masqueraded as a professor” and that he was previously an assistant to former Cabinet secretary-general Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰). President-elect William Lai (賴清德) on Wednesday last week announced Cho would be his premier when Lai is inaugurated next month. Today is China’s “National Security Education Day.” The Chinese ministry yesterday released a video online showing arrests over the past 10 years of people alleged to be
THE HAWAII FACTOR: While a 1965 opinion said an attack on Hawaii would not trigger Article 5, the text of the treaty suggests the state is covered, the report says NATO could be drawn into a conflict in the Taiwan Strait if Chinese forces attacked the US mainland or Hawaii, a NATO Defense College report published on Monday says. The report, written by James Lee, an assistant research fellow at Academia Sinica’s Institute of European and American Studies, states that under certain conditions a Taiwan contingency could trigger Article 5 of NATO, under which an attack against any member of the alliance is considered an attack against all members, necessitating a response. Article 6 of the North Atlantic Treaty specifies that an armed attack in the territory of any member in Europe,
LIKE FAMILY: People now treat dogs and cats as family members. They receive the same medical treatments and tests as humans do, a veterinary association official said The number of pet dogs and cats in Taiwan has officially outnumbered the number of human newborns last year, data from the Ministry of Agriculture’s pet registration information system showed. As of last year, Taiwan had 94,544 registered pet dogs and 137,652 pet cats, the data showed. By contrast, 135,571 babies were born last year. Demand for medical care for pet animals has also risen. As of Feb. 29, there were 5,773 veterinarians in Taiwan, 3,993 of whom were for pet animals, statistics from the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency showed. In 2022, the nation had 3,077 pediatricians. As of last
XINJIANG: Officials are conducting a report into amending an existing law or to enact a special law to prohibit goods using forced labor Taiwan is mulling an amendment prohibiting the importation of goods using forced labor, similar to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) passed by the US Congress in 2021 that imposed limits on goods produced using forced labor in China’s Xinjiang region. A government official who wished to remain anonymous said yesterday that as the US customs law explicitly prohibits the importation of goods made using forced labor, in 2021 it passed the specialized UFLPA to limit the importation of cotton and other goods from China’s Xinjiang Uyghur region. Taiwan does not have the legal basis to prohibit the importation of goods