■Macroeconomics
EU ministers reaffirm plans
The finance ministers of Britain, France and Germany, in a commentary published yesterday in The Wall Street Journal, said they are committed to take the EU to the next stage during the upcoming EU summit in Greece. "We, the finance ministers of France, Germany and the United Kingdom, are all committed to reform our economies to deliver on the ambitious objectives we set at Lisbon three years ago," the ministers said. The joint Op-Ed was signed by the finance ministers of France and Germany, Francis Mer and Hans Eichel, and Britain's Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown. They said they would "give priority to growth, to reform our labor markets to create more and better jobs, and to reform our pension and health-care systems to keep the public finances on a sustainable footing."
■ Banking
China opens to foreigners
China's banking watchdog said yesterday it plans to issue long-awaited regulations on auto financing, possibly opening up the business to foreign companies. The rules are among the priority tasks for the newly-established China Banking Regulatory Commission, the com-mission said on its Web site, without giving a timetable. China was supposed to open auto financing to foreigners immediately after it became a WTO member on December 11, 2001, but 18 months later foreign companies are still waiting. Auto giants such as General Motors Corp, Ford Motor Co and Volkswagen AG are among the companies expected to start offering car loans once the rules are in place. Chinese authorities have allowed a series of local banks to engage in auto financing in recent months, giving them a head-start over foreign competitors.
■ IT
India pays for e-governance
India's federal and state governments are contri-buting heavily to information technology spending in the country thanks to their new found zeal for e-governance, international research and consultancy firm Gartner says. In a report on India's e-governance released earlier this week, Gartner said the government was the only recession-proof segment of society that will continue to spend on technology even during a downtrend. The government's spending on technology accounts for 9 percent of information technology spending in India, the report said. Last year, the Indian government spent a little over US$1 billion on e-governance initiatives. In the five years that the govern-ment has been providing services through the Internet, 12 of India's 29 states have announced their information technology policy, the report said.
■ Scandals
Firm wants receivership
Shanghai Merchants Holdings, a Hong Kong-listed firm controlled by embattled Chinese tycoon Zhou Zhengyi, has applied for receivership, state press reported Wednesday. The move comes 10 days after similar action by sister company Shanghai Land. Shanghai Merchants, in which Zhou holds a 74.3 percent stake, Tuesday issued a notice announcing it would apply for receivership from the Superior Court in Hong Kong in a bid to preserve the company's assets and maintain operations, the China Securities Journal reported. Shanghai Merchants, chaired by Zhou's wife Mo Yuk-ping, stated in the public notice that its board of directors made the decision on June 14.
Agencies
SILICON VALLEY HUB: The office would showcase Taiwan’s strengths in semiconductors and artificial intelligence, and help Taiwanese start-ups connect with global opportunities Taiwan has established an office in Palo Alto, one of the principal cities of Silicon Valley in California, aimed at helping Taiwanese technology start-ups gain global visibility, the National Development Council said yesterday. The “Startup Island Taiwan Silicon Valley hub” at No. 299 California Avenue is focused on “supporting start-ups and innovators by providing professional consulting, co-working spaces, and community platforms,” the council said in a post on its Web site. The office is the second overseas start-up hub established by the council, after a similar site was set up in Tokyo in September last year. Representatives from Taiwanese start-ups, local businesses and
‘DETERRENT’: US national security adviser-designate Mike Waltz said that he wants to speed up deliveries of weapons purchased by Taiwan to deter threats from China US president-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for US secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth, affirmed his commitment to peace in the Taiwan Strait during his confirmation hearing in Washington on Tuesday. Hegseth called China “the most comprehensive and serious challenge to US national security” and said that he would aim to limit Beijing’s expansion in the Indo-Pacific region, Voice of America reported. He would also adhere to long-standing policies to prevent miscalculations, Hegseth added. The US Senate Armed Services Committee hearing was the first for a nominee of Trump’s incoming Cabinet, and questions mostly focused on whether he was fit for the
INDUSTRIAL CLUSTER: In Germany, the sector would be developed around Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s plant, and extend to Poland and the Czech Republic The Executive Yuan’s economic diplomacy task force has approved programs aimed at bolstering the nation’s chip diplomacy with Japan and European nations. The task force in its first meeting had its operational mechanism and organizational structure confirmed, with Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) the convener, and Vice Premier Cheng Li-chiun (鄭麗君) and Minister Without Portfolio Ma Yung-cheng (馬永成) the deputy conveners. Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) would be the convener of the task force’s strategy group in charge of policy planning for economic diplomacy. The meeting was attended by the heads of the National Development Council, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the
EXPRESSING GRATITUDE: Without its Taiwanese partners which are ‘working around the clock,’ Nvidia could not meet AI demand, CEO Jensen Huang said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) and US-based artificial intelligence (AI) chip designer Nvidia Corp have partnered with each other on silicon photonics development, Nvidia founder and CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳) said. Speaking with reporters after he met with TSMC chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) in Taipei on Friday, Huang said his company was working with the world’s largest contract chipmaker on silicon photonics, but admitted it was unlikely for the cooperation to yield results any time soon, and both sides would need several years to achieve concrete outcomes. To have a stake in the silicon photonics supply chain, TSMC and
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