The European Chamber of Commerce Taiwan (ECCT) on Thursday called for less hurdles for foreigners wanting live and work in Taiwan to solve its shortage of skilled labor.
“The government should make it easier for foreigners to live and work in Taiwan,” ECCT chairman Hakan Cervell told an audience that included President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), senior government officials and executives from European and Taiwanese companies.
The foreign trade group, which has US$45 billion in direct foreign investments, lauded the labor law revision early this year and said the passage of the Act Governing Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及雇用法) was a good first step.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
However, further efforts are needed to make Taiwan business-friendly and attractive to foreign talent, it said.
Existing rules mean foreign nationals are treated unequally to Taiwanese residents, with different number formats for Taiwanese identity cards and Alien Resident Certificates, Cervell said.
The practice denies foreign resident card holders access to many services, as more services go online, he said.
Other examples of unequal treatment include foreign residents not being eligible for electric vehicle subsidies or senior citizen discounts on the High-Speed Rail service, he said.
The government could also resolve the shortage of skilled labor by introducing short-term business visas and allowing more foreign workers in the service sector.
The ECCT said it welcomes Taiwan’s effort to speed up the development of the “green” energy industry, but added that many obstacles need to be overcome if the nation wants renewable energy sources to supply 20 percent of electricity by 2025.
Challenges include constructing supporting infrastructure such as electricity grids and harbors, streamlining the permitting process, and resolving financial issues in line with international trends and standards, the chamber said.
“European companies in the wind energy industry are committed to developing Taiwan into a regional manufacturing and support hub for wind energy in Asia. However, it will take time to develop local competence and expertise,” Cervell said.
The ECCT said it supports the creation of smart cities, but the right infrastructure must first be put in place, such as 5G telecommunications, electric vehicle charging stations and smart grids, Cervell said, adding that the regulatory environment must be flexible enough to allow technological innovation and new business models.
The ECCT supports making English the second official language of Taiwan, as English is the global language of business, diplomacy and international organizations.
“Making English an official language would make Taiwan more attractive to international investors and give Taiwan more access to the world,” Cervell said.
PERSISTENT RUMORS: Nvidia’s CEO said the firm is not in talks to sell AI chips to China, but he would welcome a change in US policy barring the activity Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said his company is not in discussions to sell its Blackwell artificial intelligence (AI) chips to Chinese firms, waving off speculation it is trying to engineer a return to the world’s largest semiconductor market. Huang, who arrived in Taiwan yesterday ahead of meetings with longtime partner Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), took the opportunity to clarify recent comments about the US-China AI race. The Nvidia head caused a stir in an interview this week with the Financial Times, in which he was quoted as saying “China will win” the AI race. Huang yesterday said
Nissan Motor Co has agreed to sell its global headquarters in Yokohama for ￥97 billion (US$630 million) to a group sponsored by Taiwanese autoparts maker Minth Group (敏實集團), as the struggling automaker seeks to shore up its financial position. The acquisition is led by a special purchase company managed by KJR Management Ltd, a Japanese real-estate unit of private equity giant KKR & Co, people familiar with the matter said. KJR said it would act as asset manager together with Mizuho Real Estate Management Co. Nissan is undergoing a broad cost-cutting campaign by eliminating jobs and shuttering plants as it grapples
The Chinese government has issued guidance requiring new data center projects that have received any state funds to only use domestically made artificial intelligence (AI) chips, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. In recent weeks, Chinese regulatory authorities have ordered such data centers that are less than 30 percent complete to remove all installed foreign chips, or cancel plans to purchase them, while projects in a more advanced stage would be decided on a case-by-case basis, the sources said. The move could represent one of China’s most aggressive steps yet to eliminate foreign technology from its critical infrastructure amid a
MORE WEIGHT: The national weighting was raised in one index while holding steady in two others, while several companies rose or fell in prominence MSCI Inc, a global index provider, has raised Taiwan’s weighting in one of its major indices and left the country’s weighting unchanged in two other indices after a regular index review. In a statement released on Thursday, MSCI said it has upgraded Taiwan’s weighting in the MSCI All-Country World Index by 0.02 percentage points to 2.25 percent, while maintaining the weighting in the MSCI Emerging Markets Index, the most closely watched by foreign institutional investors, at 20.46 percent. Additionally, the index provider has left Taiwan’s weighting in the MSCI All-Country Asia ex-Japan Index unchanged at 23.15 percent. The latest index adjustments are to
RSS