Negotiations between Taiwan and China on a bilateral investment protection pact remain stalled by a failure to reach a consensus on a potential deal’s dispute arbitration mechanism, officials familiar with the issue said yesterday.
Negotiators held talks in Beijing on Sept. 8 and Sept. 9 to try to resolve differences on arbitrating trade and investment disputes and clear the way for the signing of the deal, which aims to protect hundreds of thousands of Taiwanese investors in China.
However, it remains uncertain whether the pact will be signed or if a seventh high-level meeting between the top cross-strait negotiators will be held later this month as scheduled.
PUSH ON
In a push to get a pact that can be signed later this month, representatives will continue to negotiate this week.
If they fail to reach an understanding, the talks between Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) and Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Straits Chairman Chen Yunlin (陳雲林) would be put off again, officials said.
The two sides have reached a general agreement on a personal safety protection deal that would require the foundation and families of Taiwanese businesspeople detained in China for suspected involvement in a crime to be informed within 24 hours of the detention.
However, the investment protection deal has been more difficult to achieve.
Taiwan has proposed that disputes between Taiwanese investors and the Chinese government should be arbitrated by agencies such as the International Chamber of Commerce.
However, China wants to treat any disputes as a domestic matter and avoid using international arbitration entities.
Taiwanese officials, who declined to be named, said Taiwan has not ruled out accepting mediation rather than arbitration to resolve disputes, but they said whatever mechanism was adopted had to be enforceable in case local Chinese governments ignore mediation results.
RESERVATIONS
While Wang Yi (王毅), director of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, said last week that the chances of signing a pact were “unquestionably optimistic,” the Taiwanese officials were more reserved, saying whatever was agreed upon during negotiations needed to be signed before it could be considered a real deal.
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