Taiwan would continue to enhance its role in global supply chains in a bid to join the US-led Indo-Pacific Economic Framework (IPEF), National Development Council Minister Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said.
In an interview with Voice of America, Kung said that global supply chains have undergone a restructuring amid US-China trade tensions and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Many Taiwanese companies have remained resilient during the restructuring, Kung said, adding that they benefited from the changes and ensured Taiwan’s economic growth.
Photo: CNA
The nation’s economy last year grew 6.57 percent and is expected to grow 3.91 percent this year, he said.
Taiwanese firms have been moving their production from China to Southeast Asia, North America, and central and eastern Europe, he said, adding that the changes are expected to bolster global supply chains.
Taiwan has become a role model in the global supply chain, and it will continue to bolster the resilience of its investors and strengthen their role in global supply chains, Kung said.
Taiwan is qualified to join the IPEF, he added.
The White House on May 22 announced that Taiwan had not been invited to join the IPEF, which was unveiled by US President Joe Biden a day later during his visit to Asia.
In the first round, 13 economies accounting for about 40 percent of the world’s GDP joined the trade pact: the US, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Brunei, India, Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Washington was looking to deepen its economic relationship with Taipei, in particular on “high-technology issues, including on semiconductors and supply chains.”
The IPEF focuses on four major themes: fair and resilient trade, supply chain resilience, infrastructure, clean energy and decarbonization, and tax and anti-corruption, with further details expected later.
Despite a lack of detail, Kung said the IPEF expresses the US’ intention to return to Asia by mapping out a strategy in the Indo-Pacific region.
Taiwan has already been working to improve its performance in the four areas identified by the IPEF, he said.
Based on the IPEF’s themes, Taiwan would promote building smart cities, improve cross-border privacy and endeavor to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2025, he added.
However, the nation cannot develop supply chains and enter new markets on its own, Kung said.
It has to cooperate with other nations, which is why Taipei is keen to seek bilateral or multilateral cooperation in global trade, he said.
Taipei and Washington resumed talks under the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement mechanism last year after a five-year hiatus.
Both sides have also hosted digital economic forums, Kung said.
Taiwan has also begun conducting closer economic exchanges with central and eastern Europe, he said.
UNCERTAINTY: Investors remain worried that trade negotiations with Washington could go poorly, given Trump’s inconsistency on tariffs in his second term, experts said The consumer confidence index this month fell for a ninth consecutive month to its lowest level in 13 months, as global trade uncertainties and tariff risks cloud Taiwan’s economic outlook, a survey released yesterday by National Central University found. The biggest decline came from the timing for stock investments, which plunged 11.82 points to 26.82, underscoring bleak investor confidence, it said. “Although the TAIEX reclaimed the 21,000-point mark after the US and China agreed to bury the hatchet for 90 days, investors remain worried that the situation would turn sour later,” said Dachrahn Wu (吳大任), director of the university’s Research Center for
Alchip Technologies Ltd (世芯), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) designer specializing in artificial-intelligence (AI) chips, yesterday said that small-volume production of 3-nanometer (nm) chips for a key customer is on track to start by the end of this year, dismissing speculation about delays in producing advanced chips. As Alchip is transitioning from 7-nanometer and 5-nanometer process technology to 3 nanometers, investors and shareholders have been closely monitoring whether the company is navigating through such transition smoothly. “We are proceeding well in [building] this generation [of chips]. It appears to me that no revision will be required. We have achieved success in designing
PROJECTION: KGI Financial said that based on its foreign exchange exposure, a NT$0.1 increase in the New Taiwan dollar would negatively impact it by about NT$1.7 billion KGI Financial Holding Co (凱基金控) yesterday said its life insurance arm has increased hedging and adopted other moves to curb the impact of the local currency’s appreciation on its profitability. “It is difficult to accurately depict the hedging costs, which might vary from 7 percent to 40 percent in a single day,” KGI Life Insurance Co (凱基人壽) told an investors’ conference in Taipei. KGI Life, which underpinned 66 percent of the group’s total net income last year, has elevated hedging to 55 to 60 percent, while using a basket of currencies to manage currency volatility, the insurer said. As different
Taiwanese insurers are facing difficult questions about the damage of recent swings in the New Taiwan dollar. Regulators might have a partial solution: letting firms change how they calculate the value of foreign currency assets. The Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) is considering allowing insurers to use six-month average exchange rates when they calculate risk-based capital in their semiannual reports, a shift from the current system where insurers use exchange rates on the final day of reporting. The change could ease pressure on the US$1.2 trillion insurance sector, whose huge exposure to foreign assets came into the spotlight earlier this month after a
RSS