Taiwanese listed companies and those traded on the over-the-counter (OTC) market have wired NT$1.08 trillion (US$34.5 billion) to China since President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) took office in May 2008.
That is more than 50 percent of the total NT$1.96 trillion that has been invested since listed and OTC companies were allowed to begin investing in China almost two decades ago.
The record for the most money wired to China in a year has been set — and broken — during Ma’s first and second terms, showing that Taiwanese capital’s flow to China has been accelerating.
According the recently released report on listed and OTC firms’ remittances last year, a total of NT$188.1 billion was sent to China — a 17 percent increase compared with the NT$160.8 billion sent in 2013 and the second-highest record of all time.
The highest amount sent was in 2011, when NT$194.9 billion was wired to China.
In the past six years, only 2009 saw less than NT$160 billion remitted, and remittances have topped that amount every year since 2010.
Meanwhile, only NT$8.65 billion was repatriated from China last year, the second-lowest amount in the past six years and almost one-third less than the NT$12 billion wired back in 2013 and 2012
The amount repatriated last year was just 4.6 percent of that remitted to China, which was apparently less than the 7 percent seen in the preceding two years.
Over the past six years, the total amount repatriated from China by listed and OTC Taiwanese companies was NT$64.05 billion, less than 6 percent of NT$1.08 trillion that they invested in China.
The total amount repatriated by these Taiwanese companies in China over the past two decades is NT$186.4 billion, less than 10 percent what they invested across the Taiwan Strait during that period.
Since Ma became president, not only was the amount wired back only one-third of the total amount repatriated since the investment ban was lifted, but the amount wired out was more than half of the total that has been repatriated; the capital flow across the Taiwan Strait has been highly disproportionate.
Most notable about last year’s direct investment in China by listed and OTC companies was that the remittances from Taiwan’s financial sector for the first time surpassed those of the electronics sector.
The financial sector invested a total of NT$68.4 billion, of which Fubon Financial Holding Co’s investment in China’s Hua Yi Bank accounted for NT$27.1 billion — the biggest Taiwanese investment in China last year.
Fubon Financial was also the listed company that invested the most in China last year.
Cathay Financial Holding Co was the next-biggest investor, wiring NT$13.2 billion, NT$4.8 billion was an investment in the Shanghai branch of Cathay United Bank and NT$2.9 billion went for the Qingdao branch, while NT$3.4 billion was invested in a subsidiary of Cathay Life Insurance and purchasing a commercial building for it.
State-run banks also contributed to the capital outflow.
First Financial Holding Co wired out NT$6.1 billion, Taiwan Cooperative Bank sent NT$5.9 billion and Chang Hwa Commercial Bank (彰化銀行) NT$4.9 billion.
Ever since the Ma administration granted permission for the financial sector to invest in China, the capital flow across the Taiwan Strait has skyrocketed.
Among the other big players investing in China last year were Hon Hai Precision Industry Co, which was ranked third among all of the listed and OTC companies, with NT$10.7 billion; Uni-President Group transferred NT$5.5 billion, MediaTek NT$4.6 billion, Taiwan Surface Mounting Technology Corp and Delta Electronics NT$4.1 billion each and Lite-On Technology Corp NT$4 billion.
Original equipment manufacturing firms, including Compal Electronics Co, Asustek Computer, Inventec Corp and panelmakers such as AU Optronics Corp and Innolux Corp, last year all saw reductions in the amount they invested in China.
The Mainland Affairs Council yesterday said the vast difference between what listed and OTC Taiwanese firms invested in China and what they repatriated was due to the companies using the capital they earned to expand the scope of their Chinese investments.
Such investments actually increased cross-strait trade, so the apparent acceleration of Taiwanese capital’s flow to China was not an issue, the council said.
Yangmingshan National Park authorities yesterday urged visitors to respect public spaces and obey the law after a couple was caught on a camera livestream having sex at the park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) earlier in the day. The Shilin Police Precinct in Taipei said it has identified a suspect and his vehicle registration number, and would summon him for questioning. The case would be handled in accordance with public indecency charges, it added. The couple entered the park at about 11pm on Thursday and began fooling around by 1am yesterday, the police said, adding that the two were unaware of the park’s all-day live
Fast food chain McDonald's is to raise prices by up to NT$5 on some products at its restaurants across Taiwan, starting on Wednesday next week, the company announced today. The prices of all extra value meals and sharing boxes are to increase by NT$5, while breakfast combos and creamy corn soup would go up by NT$3, the company said in a statement. The price of the main items of those meals, if ordered individually, would remain the same. Meanwhile, the price of a medium-sized lemon iced tea and hot cappuccino would rise by NT$3, extra dipping sauces for chicken nuggets would go up
Yangmingshan National Park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) nature area has gone viral after a park livestream camera observed a couple in the throes of intimate congress, which was broadcast live on YouTube, drawing large late-night crowds and sparking a backlash over noise, bright lights and disruption to wildlife habitat. The area’s livestream footage appeared to show a couple engaging in sexual activity on a picnic table in the park on Friday last week, with the uncensored footage streamed publicly online. The footage quickly spread across social media, prompting a tide of visitors to travel to the site to “check in” and recreate the
Minister of Digital Affairs Lin Yi-ching (林宜敬) yesterday cited regulatory issues and national security concerns as an expert said that Taiwan is among the few Asian regions without Starlink. Lin made the remarks on Facebook after funP Innovation Group chief executive officer Nathan Chiu (邱繼弘) on Friday said Taiwan and four other countries in Asia — China, North Korea, Afghanistan and Syria — have no access to Starlink. Starlink has become available in 166 countries worldwide, including Ukraine, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, in the six years since it became commercial, he said. While China and North Korea block Starlink, Syria is not
RSS