Each spring when AmCham Taipei conducts its Doorknock trip to Washington DC, one of the most important stops on the itinerary is the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) a block away from the White House. USTR is the U.S. government agency responsible for developing and coordinating trade policy and for carrying out trade…
When the Taiwan government last year unveiled its 5+2 Innovative Industries plan with biomedicine as one of the cornerstones, the multinational pharmaceutical industry noted that development with keen interest and optimism. Taiwan can point to numerous assets that could make it a serious contender to become a regional or even global hub for biopharma. It…
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo recently set out an inspiring vision for how the American government and private sector can work together with countries in the Indo-Pacific to promote peace, stability, and prosperity. Although the bulk of the details have yet to be worked out, AmCham Taipei applauds the Secretary’s remarks as long-sought recognition…
40% of last year’s White Paper issues rated as resolved or making good progress. Special to Topics Online AmCham Taipei’s 2018 Taiwan White Paper, released June 6 with a news conference followed by a membership luncheon at the Regent Taipei, highlighted the unprecedented progress achieved over the past year in resolving issues raised by the…
AmCham Taipei reported today that 11 of the 83 issues in its 2017 Taiwan White Paper have been resolved – the most of any year since the organization started tracking the results in 2004. Another record 21 issues were showing good progress. “The major turnaround in 2017 was largely due to unprecedented cooperation with the…
Each year when AmCham Taipei prepares a new edition of its Taiwan White Paper, it asks its various industry committees to report back on the degree of progress toward resolution of their White Paper issues from the year before. As part of the review, each issue gets rated according to a five-tier scale. The top…
March was a good month for Taiwan-U.S. relations. In what may be a new record, three key U.S. officials made separate visits to Taiwan during the month: Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and the Pacific Alex Wong, U.S. Ambassador to APEC Matt Matthews, and Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce for Manufacturing Ian…
We noticed something different in the recently completed 2018 AmCham Taipei Business Climate Survey, summarized in this issue of TOPICS. There’s a sense that progress is beginning to be made in many problem areas. To be sure, the survey respondents had plenty of concerns. These include the treatment of professional and managerial personnel under current…
During her visit to Taipei at the end of January, U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Commerce Diane Farrell lauded the decision by the Taiwan government to establish a Patent Linkage system to help ensure that generic drugs cannot reach the market while the original product is still covered by a valid Taiwan patent. Farrell described…
The American withdrawal from the nascent Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade block almost immediately after President Trump assumed office early this year left Taiwan without a concrete, compelling objective to work toward in its economic relationship with the United States. Until then, Taiwan had a clear focus – its hope that it would be able to…
