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…
The Executive Yuan has made known its intention to re-revise the Labor Standards Law after amendments passed last year left both employers and employees dissatisfied with the rigidities it imposed on working hours, overtime pay, and other working conditions. A new draft is expected to be submitted to the Legislative Yuan in November. AmCham Taipei…
Each year in recent years, the “Messages to Washington” section of AmCham Taipei’s annual Taiwan White Paper has strongly argued in favor of more frequent high-level visits to Taiwan by U.S. government officials. As stated in the 2017 White Paper, “it has been the Chamber’s experience that periodic visits by high-level officials can make a…
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…
Among the flurry of executive orders signed by U.S. President Donald Trump since taking office was one issued March 31 aimed at reducing the American trade deficit with countries with which the United States runs a significant trade imbalance. The order assigns the Secretary of Commerce and Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) –…
Like most people who have had the opportunity to live and work in Taiwan, members of the American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei deeply appreciate the many virtues of this society. The Chamber’s recently conducted 2017 Business Climate Survey, the main results of which are reported in this issue, underscored this wide recognition of the…
Last October in this space, in an editorial entitled “A Significant Initiative,” AmCham Taipei hailed the Taiwan government’s decision to extend the notice-and-comment period for proposed new or revised regulations. Previously a mere 14 days, hardly enough time for stakeholders to absorb the content of the proposed new measures and to formulate a comprehensive response,…
