Taiwan's trade with China grew to US$16 billion in the first eight months of 1999, up 7.8 percent from the same period in 1998, the Board of Foreign Trade said yesterday.
The trade surplus with China from January to August totalled US$10.34 billion, up 10 percent from a year earlier, the board said in a statement.
Bilateral trade -- conducted indirectly via Hong Kong and other places because of Taiwan's ban on direct ties with the mainland -- represented 10.8 percent of its total external trade during the period.
Taiwan's exports to China were up 8.7 percent from a year earlier at US$13.17 billion in the January-August period, while imports rose a year-on-year 3.9 percent to US$2.83 billion.
The board attributed the trade surplus to sharper growth in exports to China, including electronic products, machinery appliances, plastics and steel products.
Regional economic recovery also fueled demand from China, the board said.
In August alone, Taiwan's exports to China saw double-digit growth of 18.1 percent to US$1.92 billion compared with August 1998, while imports jumped 21.1 percent to US$397 million.
Taiwan bans all direct contact with China -- but allows indirect trade and investment activities. Mostly, these are channeled through offshore companies set up in Hong Kong.
Taiwan will prioritize the development of silicon photonics by taking advantage of its strength in the semiconductor industry to build another shield to protect the local economy, National Development Council (NDC) Minister Paul Liu (劉鏡清) said yesterday. Speaking at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee, Liu said Taiwan already has the artificial intelligence (AI) industry as a shield, after the semiconductor industry, to safeguard the country, and is looking at new unique fields to build more economic shields. While Taiwan will further strengthen its existing shields, over the longer term, the country is determined to focus on such potential segments as
UNCERTAINTY: Innolux activated a stringent supply chain management mechanism, as it did during the COVID-19 pandemic, to ensure optimal inventory levels for customers Flat-panel display makers AUO Corp (友達) and Innolux Corp (群創) yesterday said that about 12 to 20 percent of their display business is at risk of potential US tariffs and that they would relocate production or shipment destinations to mitigate the levies’ effects. US tariffs would have a direct impact of US$200 million on AUO’s revenue, company chairman Paul Peng (彭雙浪) told reporters on the sidelines of the Touch Taiwan trade show in Taipei yesterday. That would make up about 12 percent of the company’s overall revenue. To cope with the tariff uncertainty, AUO plans to allocate its production to manufacturing facilities in
COLLABORATION: Given Taiwan’s key position in global supply chains, the US firm is discussing strategies with local partners and clients to deal with global uncertainties Advanced Micro Devices Inc (AMD) yesterday said it is meeting with local ecosystem partners, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), to discuss strategies, including long-term manufacturing, to navigate uncertainties such as US tariffs, as Taiwan occupies an important position in global supply chains. AMD chief executive officer Lisa Su (蘇姿丰) told reporters that Taiwan is an important part of the chip designer’s ecosystem and she is discussing with partners and customers in Taiwan to forge strong collaborations on different areas during this critical period. AMD has just become the first artificial-intelligence (AI) server chip customer of TSMC to utilize its advanced
Chizuko Kimura has become the first female sushi chef in the world to win a Michelin star, fulfilling a promise she made to her dying husband to continue his legacy. The 54-year-old Japanese chef regained the Michelin star her late husband, Shunei Kimura, won three years ago for their Sushi Shunei restaurant in Paris. For Shunei Kimura, the star was a dream come true. However, the joy was short-lived. He died from cancer just three months later in June 2022. He was 65. The following year, the restaurant in the heart of Montmartre lost its star rating. Chizuko Kimura insisted that the new star is still down
RSS