The 2017 AmCham Taipei “Doorknock” mission encounters a hard line on trade issues. Early on in the five-day AmCham Taipei “Doorknock” visit to Washington D.C. in late June, the delegation became starkly aware of just how much the operating style of the U.S. government has changed under the Trump administration. Even career government officials who…
Taiwan has made important improvements in its rules-making procedures. But some additional steps are needed. The Tsai Ing-wen administration deserves hearty applause for its extension of the notice and comment period for new laws and regulations from 14 to 60 days, an initiative that propels Taiwan to the front rank in Asia in the area…
Should the current target-expenditure system be extended? When the Taiwan government five years ago was working on how to revamp the National Health Insurance (NHI) program to help ensure its long-term sustainability, one of the new measures it adopted was a suggestion from the pharmaceutical industry that had been broached in AmCham Taipei’s 2010 Taiwan…
Each spring when The American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei (AmCham Taipei) publishes the latest edition of its Taiwan White Paper, it reviews the issues raised by its various committees in the previous year’s edition. The committees assign each issue a number representing the degree of progress over the past year. A (1) is the…
Panama Cuts Ties With Taiwan Panama switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing, the latest in a series of developments that further isolate Taiwan on the global stage. Panamanian President Juan Carlos Varela cited “economic interests” as the incentive to sever the diplomatic ties. In response, Taiwan plans to halt all bilateral cooperative projects and…
Export Recovery Fuels Higher GDP Growth Optimism regarding Taiwan’s economy is rising alongside trade figures as the island continues to benefit from the ongoing recovery in the global economy. Nearly all of the local economic analytics firms have raised their forecasts for GDP growth for 2017, with Academia Sinica, Taiwan’s top academic research institution, coming…
Taiwan is known as an excellent place to study the Mandarin language and is also home to the world-class National Palace Museum with its breathtaking collection of Chinese treasures. But Taiwan is not a purely Han Chinese society. Prior to the 17th century, the island was dominated by indigenous people of Austronesian origin. Before the…
Trump Delights in Foxconn US Investment Hype Days after one of Taiwan’s largest companies announced plans to build a US$10 billion factory in the U.S., there is speculation that the investment could be tripled in the coming years. Foxconn, the world’s largest contract manufacturer and a key supplier to Apple, last week said it would…
