WTO block could prompt crisis
Taiwan's decision to block the appointment of a Chinese judge to the WTO's top court threatens an institutional crisis, a key official warned yesterday.
Taiwan on Monday objected to the proposed appointment of Chinese lawyer Zhang Yeujiao (張月姣) to the WTO's seven-member Appellate Body, which issues rulings in key trade disputes, citing the possibility of bias.
"I'm extremely concerned that if the situation persists much longer we will have a crisis in this organization," the chairman of the WTO's Dispute Settlement Body (DSB) Bruce Gosper told journalists.
Taiwan's objection meant that Monday's meeting of the DSB was indefinitely postponed, leaving pending complaints on US agricultural subsidies and Chinese intellectual property restrictions in limbo.
Speaking after an informal meeting of the DSB, Gosper said that all of the 151 members of the WTO, bar Taiwan, shared his concerns.
Taiwan said in a statement on Monday that it had "deep concerns on the question of impartiality and qualification of one of the recommended candidates."
UMC buys more Epistar shares
United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the nation's second-biggest contract chipmaker, yesterday said it bought an additional 3.37 million Epistar Corp (晶電) shares for almost NT$400 million (US$12.37 million).
Epistar is the nation's biggest maker of chips for light-emitting diodes (LEDs). UMC is one of Epistar's major shareholders with two representatives to the board.
After the purchase, UMC owns a 3.42 percent stake in Epistar. UMC bought its initial shares on the open market in March and subscribed to Espistar's new share sales this month at an average price of NT$118.51 a share, according to a statement submitted to the Taiwan Stock Exchange Corp.
Cathay Financial invests
Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰人壽), Taiwan's largest financial services provider, said its life insurance unit has invested US$60 million to set up a subsidiary in Vietnam.
Cathay Financial, based in Taipei, announced the investment in a statement to the Taiwan Stock Exchange today, without giving any further details.
PxMart merger approved
The Fair Trade Commission yesterday gave the green light for the merger of Pxmart (全聯社), the nation's biggest "hard discount" chain better known as Chuan Lian Center (全聯福利中心), with supermarkets run by the Taipei Agricultural Products Marketing Co (TAPM, 台北農產運銷公司).
The commission said it was not opposed to the merger as the deal posed "no significant impact on the overall market structure," it said in a statement posted on its Web site.
Pxmart, which has more than 300 supermarkets nationwide, had applied with the commission to acquire six TAPM supermarkets and jointly run another seven stores with TAPM.
MOEA, Novartis ink pact
The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) yesterday signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Swiss drugmaker Novartis AG as the two sides agreed on a five-year biomedical collaboration program, the ministry said in a statement.
The Novartis Pharmaceutical Research and Development Part-nership Program aims to enhance Taiwan's biotech industry through cooperation in preliminary clinical trials, drug research and personnel training, the statement said.
Minister of Economic Affairs Steve Chen (陳瑞隆) signed the MOU with Stefan Ziegler, head of Novartis in charge of Asia Pacific region, the ministry said. The MOU was the first of its kind that the ministry had signed with foreign drug makers, it said.
Taichung reported the steepest fall in completed home prices among the six special municipalities in the first quarter of this year, data compiled by Taiwan Realty Co (台灣房屋) showed yesterday. From January through last month, the average transaction price for completed homes in Taichung fell 8 percent from a year earlier to NT$299,000 (US$9,483) per ping (3.3m²), said Taiwan Realty, which compiled the data based on the government’s price registration platform. The decline could be attributed to many home buyers choosing relatively affordable used homes to live in themselves, instead of newly built homes in the city’s prime property market, Taiwan Realty
The government yesterday approved applications by Alphabet Inc’s Google to invest NT$27.08 billion (US$859.98 million) in Taiwan, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a statement. The Department of Investment Review approved two investments proposed by Google, with much of the funds to be used for data processing and electronic information supply services, as well as inventory procurement businesses in the semiconductor field, the ministry said. It marks the second consecutive year that Google has applied to increase its investment in Taiwan. Google plans to infuse NT$25.34 billion into Charter Investments Ltd (特許投資顧問) through its Singapore-based subsidiary Fructan Holdings Singapore Pte Ltd, and
JET JUICE: The war on Iran’s secondary effects have seen fuel prices skyrocket, knocking flight schedules down to earth in return as airlines struggle with costs Airline passengers should brace for more irritation in the next few months as carriers worldwide cancel flights and ground planes to cope with stratospheric increases in jet-fuel prices. Dutch flag carrier KLM is the latest company to cut its schedule, saying on Thursday that it would scrap 80 return flights at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport in the coming month. That puts it in the same league as United Airlines Holdings Inc, Deutsche Lufthansa AG and Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd, which have all pruned itineraries to mitigate costs. Global capacity for next month has been reduced by about 3 percentage points, with all
The US said it plans to help build a first-of-its-kind industrial hub in the Philippines to boost production of inputs crucial to US supply chains. The 4,000-acre hub is intended to be “a purpose-built platform for allied manufacturing” and “an investment acceleration hub where the specific industrial activities are shaped by market demand,” the US Department of State said on Thursday. The project — touted as an “economic security zone” — would be within the Luzon Economic Corridor, a flagship economic project backed by the US and Japan on the main Philippine island. The project was also described as “the first artificial intelligence
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