When AmCham Taipei committees met with government regulators on February 26 in the third quarterly meeting convened by the National Development Council (NDC) to discuss unresolved issues from the Chamber’s Taiwan White Paper, one additional item was included in the agenda. Although the issue arose following publication of the 2017 White Paper, it was considered…
Better results, but still below expectations. Each year when AmCham Taipei launches the latest edition of its Taiwan White Paper, the Chamber’s various committees score each of their suggestions from the previous year’s White Paper according to the degree of progress achieved. Last June the scorecard for the recommendations made in 2016 was disappointing to…
Taiwan foresees heightened business opportunities, especially in areas related to the digital economy, green energy, and the biomedical sector. The annual Taiwan Business Alliance Conference organized by the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) is an effort to stimulate interest in investing in Taiwan among foreign and overseas Chinese enterprises. The 2017 Conference, held October 6…
Taiwan is preparing to join APEC’s Cross-Border Privacy Rules system. Last year Taiwan (or “Chinese Taipei” as it is known within APEC, the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum) announced plans to prepare to join the group’s Cross-Border Privacy Rules (CBPR) system designed to facilitate the flow of data across the Asia-Pacific region. To participate in…
Back in the days before China was open to Americans for language study – and before so many U.S. high schools and colleges began offering Mandarin as a foreign-language option – Taiwan was the default destination for budding Sinologists. The most prestigious institution for pursuing Chinese language studies in that era was the Inter-University Program…
Four countries edged past Taiwan in the 2018 Doing Business survey. In the 15th edition of the World Bank’s annual Doing Business report, released on October 31, Taiwan (or “Taiwan, China” in the World Bank’s nomenclature) slipped four notches from 11th place last year to 15th among the 190 economies surveyed. The four countries moving…
When is a foreign bank not a foreign bank? Answer: When it establishes a domestic subsidiary. Between 2007 and 2013, five leading international banks – Standard Chartered, Citi, HSBC, DBS, and ANZ – received approval from the financial authorities to expand their presence in Taiwan’s retail banking market by taking over the operations of local…
When it became evident that none of the 80 issues raised by AmCham Taipei’s various committees in the 2016 Taiwan White Paper had been fully resolved, the Taiwan government took action in hopes of assuring greater progress in the coming year on the current White Paper issues released in June. Deputy Minister Kung Ming-hsin of…
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…
