Steel manufacturers on both sides of the Taiwan Strait have agreed to set up a channel for dialogue and conduct regular exchanges, Wang Chung-yu (王鍾渝), president of the Taiwan Steel & Iron Industrial Association (TSIIA, 台灣鋼鐵公會), said yesterday.
Wang, who returned to Taiwan Tuesday after leading a delegation of steel executives to Beijing, noted that the steel trade between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait has been brisk in recent years. He cited last year as an example, with mainland China exporting 2.24 million tons of bulk steel products -- like steel sheets and bars -- to Taiwan, the largest importer of bulk steel from the country.
Taiwan also exported 3.3 million tons of steel products to China last year, making the mainland the largest export destination for Taiwan steel products.
In view of the brisk steel trade across the strait, Wang said that his delegation recently visited Beijing to meet with its China counterpart, the Iron & Steel Industry Association (ISIA, 中國鋼鐵工業協會), hoping to build communication channels between the two and to avoid trade clashes after the entry of both sides into the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Wang's delegation included Tung Ho Steel Enterprise (東和鋼鐵) Chairman Ho Tseng-hsiung (侯貞雄), chairman of Feng Hsin Iron & Steel Co (豐興鋼鐵), Lin Ming-ju (林明儒) and Chou Juo-chi (鄒若齊), vice president of China Steel Corp (中鋼).
CHIPMAKING INVESTMENT: J.W. Kuo told legislators that Department of Investment Review approval would be needed were Washington to seek a TSMC board seat Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) yesterday said he received information about a possible US government investment in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and an assessment of the possible effect on the firm requires further discussion. If the US were to invest in TSMC, the plan would need to be reviewed by the Department of Investment Review, Kuo told reporters ahead of a hearing of the legislature’s Economics Committee. Kuo’s remarks came after US Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick on Tuesday said that the US government is looking into the federal government taking equity stakes in computer chip manufacturers that
NORTHERN STRIKE: Taiwanese military personnel have been training ‘in strategic and tactical battle operations’ in Michigan, a former US diplomat said More than 500 Taiwanese troops participated in this year’s Northern Strike military exercise held at Lake Michigan by the US, a Pentagon-run news outlet reported yesterday. The Michigan National Guard-sponsored drill involved 7,500 military personnel from 36 nations and territories around the world, the Stars and Stripes said. This year’s edition of Northern Strike, which concluded on Sunday, simulated a war in the Indo-Pacific region in a departure from its traditional European focus, it said. The change indicated a greater shift in the US armed forces’ attention to a potential conflict in Asia, it added. Citing a briefing by a Michigan National Guard senior
POWER PLANT POLL: The TPP said the number of ‘yes’ votes showed that the energy policy should be corrected, and the KMT said the result was a win for the people’s voice The government does not rule out advanced nuclear energy generation if it meets the government’s three prerequisites, President William Lai (賴清德) said last night after the number of votes in favor of restarting a nuclear power plant outnumbered the “no” votes in a referendum yesterday. The referendum failed to pass, despite getting more “yes” votes, as the Referendum Act (公民投票法) states that the vote would only pass if the votes in favor account for more than one-fourth of the total number of eligible voters and outnumber the opposing votes. Yesterday’s referendum question was: “Do you agree that the Ma-anshan Nuclear Power Plant
ENHANCED SECURITY: A Japanese report said that the MOU is about the sharing of information on foreign nationals entering Japan from Taiwan in the event of an emergency The Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday confirmed that Taiwan and Japan had signed an agreement to promote information exchanges and cooperation on border management, although it did not disclose more details on the pact. Ministry spokesman Hsiao Kuang-wei (蕭光偉) said the ministry is happy to see that the two nations continue to enhance cooperation on immigration control, in particular because Taiwan and Japan “share a deep friendship and frequent people-to-people exchanges.” “Last year, more than 7.32 million visits were made between the two countries, making it even more crucial for both sides to work closer on immigration and border control,” he said. Hsiao
RSS