Reflections on my over 50 years in Taiwan, including nearly two decades of service at AmCham. It was 1969, the year of the Apollo 11 Moon Landing and the Woodstock Music Festival. Richard Nixon was in his first year as President of the United States, and “Watergate” referred merely to the office/apartment complex in downtown…
A changing international environment is opening new opportunities. In this year’s Taiwan White Paper, AmCham Taipei introduced the first of what is intended to be a series of “Big Ideas” on how to move the Taiwan economy to a higher level. The initial proposal is for Taiwan to create what is known as a Sovereign…
Taiwan’s initiative in easing restrictions on imports of U.S. beef and pork should bolster its case in favor of a bilateral trade agreement. President Tsai Ing-wen’s August 28 announcement that Taiwan’s restrictions on the import of American pork and beef would be relaxed made clear that the objective was to clear the way for Taiwan…
An appellate ruling could clarify the profession’s status in Taiwan. Year after year for more than a decade, AmCham’s White Paper has pointed out Taiwan’s near uniqueness among the countries of the world in denying legal status for the healthcare profession of chiropractic. The foreign-educated, foreign-licensed doctors of chiropractic practicing in Taiwan have had to…
Support is building for fellowship program for young and mid-career U.S. officials In 1994, the U.S. Congress established the Mike Mansfield Fellowship Program, named for the former U.S. Senate Majority Leader and Ambassador to Japan, with the aim of developing a “corps of U.S. federal government employees with proficiency in the Japanese language and practical,…
Shortly after my arrival in Taipei in the fall of 1969, I received a phone call from a Columbia Graduate School of Journalism classmate who was visiting from Japan. Professors at his undergraduate alma mater, Cornell, had encouraged him to call on an impressive Taiwanese agricultural economist named Lee Teng-hui who had recently earned a…
Companies with appropriate business models have continued to be viable. Most of the leading international companies that were once active in Taiwan’s life insurance industry have long since exited the market. The list includes Aegon, Aetna, ING, Manulife, MetLife, New York Life, and Winterthur. Now it appears likely that one of the few remaining major…
An annual report lists Taiwan-related trade issues being followed in Washington. Early each year, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) releases a country-by-country Report on Foreign Trade Barriers. The nine-page Taiwan section for 2020 provides a concise statement of the main areas of U.S.-government concern regarding elements of the bilateral trade relationship. Taiwan’s…
As Taiwan society ages, this challenging condition is becoming more prevalent. With the rapid rise in the proportion of elderly people in the Taiwan population, one of the medical conditions that will require increased attention is osteoporosis. A progressive skeletal disease characterized by decreased bone density and weakened bone tissue, osteoporosis frequently leads to falls…
AmCham’s Pharmaceutical Committee has suggestions. Year after year, a key concern of the major pharmaceutical companies operating in Taiwan is the ease with which new drugs and new indications (meaning new applications for existing treatments) can enter the market. Given Taiwan’s single-payer universal healthcare system, much depends on whether the National Health Insurance Administration (NHIA)…
