Transitional Justice Vice Chair Resigns Vice chairman of the Transitional Justice Commission (TJC) Chang Tien-chin resigned over comments, made at a private meeting that were leaked to the press, in which he proposed using the TJC to smear a candidate in the November elections. The TJC, under the Executive Yuan, is an independent body charged…
AstraZeneca Plans Major Investments Observing the 70th anniversary of its presence in Taiwan, pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca announced plans to invest an additional NT$1 billion (over US$32 million) here in the next three years. AstraZeneca Taiwan president Simon Manners said the company will launch 10 new medicines by 2021, three of which have received priority approval…
More Budget Sought for F-16 Upgrades Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense announced plans September 7 to raise the budget for upgrading the air force’s fleet of U.S.-procured F-16 multi-role combat aircraft from NT$129.6 billion (US$4.21 billion) to NT$140.2 billion (US$4.56 billion). The fleet of 115 F-16 jets is being upgraded by Lockheed Martin from the…
U.S.-China Trade War Draws Attention News reports indicate that at a number of Taiwanese firms are considering abandoning their Chinese production bases and returning to Taiwan to avoid being caught in the U.S.-China trade war. Although Taiwan has not been directly targeted by either country, many Taiwanese manufacturers have moved their production sites to China,…
Foxconn Pursues More Wisconsin Initiatives Foxconn Technology Group, known in Taiwan as Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., is following up its planned US$10 billion investment in Wisconsin to build an LCD-panel plant with several additional commitments in the Mid-Western state. At a ceremony in late August at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Foxconn CEO Terry Gou…
Positive Indications on the Trade Front Given Taiwan’s heavy reliance on international trade for its economic momentum, the past several weeks brought some encouraging news. Announcement of Taiwan’s trade figures for July showed that exports had continued to increase for the fifth consecutive month. At US$29.36 billion, export value in July was 4.7% higher than…
Torrential Rains Pummel Kaohsiung, Pingtung Late August brought severe flooding to much of southern Taiwan. As of August 26 – with continued heavy rainfall still forecast – seven people were reported to have died due to the floods, with another 116 injured and nearly 600 temporarily housed in shelters. The Central Emergency Operation Center estimated…
Tsai Makes 9-Day Trip to Latin America President Tsai Ing-wen departed on August 12 on a trip to Paraguay and Belize, two of the countries with which Taiwan continues to maintain full diplomatic relations, with stopovers in the United States. On her arrival in Los Angeles, Tsai was greeted at the airport by the U.S.-based…
KKR in Deal to Acquire LCY Chemical An investment group led by the private equity firm KKR & Co. announced a deal to acquire a majority share in Taipei-based LCY Chemical Corp for US$1.56 billion. The investors also include LCY employees and members of the founding family. If approved by regulators in both Taiwan and…
Delays for Two Key Infrastructure Projects Despite strong support from the Ministry of Economic Affairs, an environmental impact assessment (EIA) committee of the Environmental Protection Administration in early July rejected plans by the state-run CPC Corp. Taiwan to build Taiwan’s third liquefied natural gas receiving terminal project at Datan in Taoyuan’s Guanyin District. Increased reliance…
