Palau has appointed Acer Inc founder Stan Shih (施振榮) as a senior economic adviser, the StanShih Foundation said yesterday.
The foundation, which was established by Shih to help boost Taiwan’s long-term sustainability and competitiveness, in a statement said Shih yesterday received a senior economic adviser certificate from Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr.
Shih led a delegation to Palau on Saturday to survey the investment environment of the island country, the foundation said.
Photo courtesy of the StanShih Foundation
On Sunday, the Palauan president accompanied Shih and the delegation to survey the country’s marine tourism industry, the foundation added.
Shih and Whipps also signed a memorandum of understanding on economic cooperation to take Taiwan’s successful business as a model to help Palau and start to push for a series of joint economic developments.
The foundation quoted Whipps as saying that he hoped Shih would employ his experiences in building a successful business to help enhance the country’s economy.
It quoted Shih as saying that as Palau is a diplomatic ally of Taiwan, the private sector should embrace efforts by Taipei to boost the prosperity of its allies.
As an island of technology, Taiwan can take advantage of its achievements in developing high-tech industries and running a tech ecosystem to advance the industrial development of its allies, Shih said.
Taiwan and Palau have been discussing economic cooperation in a wide range of areas such as medical care through the integration of Palau’s traditional medicine achievements and Chinese medicine research teams from Taiwan’s public and private sectors, he said.
Palau and Taiwan’s Lion Travel Service Co are discussing a plan to launch a premium tourism program on Palau’s Peleliu island, while the Pacific island nation’s 23m zero-carbon vessel Porrima 77 would enter the upscale diving and ecotourism sector through partnership with a Japanese company, he said.
Whipps is scheduled to travel to Taiwan in May and visit Kaohsiung, where the Porrima P111 vessel is being upgraded. He would also visit a wind energy development mill run by Taiwan-based high-tech company Wistron Corp, the foundation said.
Palau is one of 12 states that have diplomatic relations with Taipei.
UNILATERAL MOVES: Officials have raised concerns that Beijing could try to exert economic control over Kinmen in a key development plan next year The Civil Aviation Administration (CAA) yesterday said that China has so far failed to provide any information about a new airport expected to open next year that is less than 10km from a Taiwanese airport, raising flight safety concerns. Xiamen Xiangan International Airport is only about 3km at its closest point from the islands in Kinmen County — the scene of on-off fighting during the Cold War — and construction work can be seen and heard clearly from the Taiwan side. In a written statement sent to Reuters, the CAA said that airports close to each other need detailed advanced
Tropical Storm Fung-Wong would likely strengthen into a typhoon later today as it continues moving westward across the Pacific before heading in Taiwan’s direction next week, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. As of 8am, Fung-Wong was about 2,190km east-southeast of Cape Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, moving westward at 25kph and possibly accelerating to 31kph, CWA data showed. The tropical storm is currently over waters east of the Philippines and still far from Taiwan, CWA forecaster Tseng Chao-cheng (曾昭誠) said, adding that it could likely strengthen into a typhoon later in the day. It is forecast to reach the South China Sea
Almost a quarter of volunteer soldiers who signed up from 2021 to last year have sought early discharge, the Legislative Yuan’s Budget Center said in a report. The report said that 12,884 of 52,674 people who volunteered in the period had sought an early exit from the military, returning NT$895.96 million (US$28.86 million) to the government. In 2021, there was a 105.34 percent rise in the volunteer recruitment rate, but the number has steadily declined since then, missing recruitment targets, the Chinese-language United Daily News said, citing the report. In 2021, only 521 volunteers dropped out of the military, the report said, citing
WEATHER Typhoon forming: CWA A tropical depression is expected to form into a typhoon as early as today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday, adding that the storm’s path remains uncertain. Before the weekend, it would move toward the Philippines, the agency said. Some time around Monday next week, it might reach a turning point, either veering north toward waters east of Taiwan or continuing westward across the Philippines, the CWA said. Meanwhile, the eye of Typhoon Kalmaegi was 1,310km south-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost point, as of 2am yesterday, it said. The storm is forecast to move through central