Foxconn Rejects Microsoft Patent Suit Terry Gou, chairman of the Foxconn Technology Group, which trades as Hon Hai Precision Industry, in mid-March responded to a patent infringement lawsuit filed against one of his subsidiaries by Microsoft Corp. He said that as a contract manufacturer, his group has never been required to pay royalties for use…
DPP Retains 2 Seats In By-elections Following the thrashing of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in the municipal elections in November at the hands of the Kuomintang (KMT), the DPP managed a slight comeback in by-elections for four vacant seats in mid-March. It retained two seats in electorates in New Taipei City and Tainan…
2019 Off to Slow Start Central banks throughout the world have been in a holding pattern amid a global economic slowdown and a protracted, bitter trade war between the U.S. and China. The U.S. Federal Reserve in late March announced that it will not increase rates during 2019. The Bank of England is unlikely to…
Growth Forecasts Cut “The economy is losing steam, but is not in a recessionary state,” Minister Chu Tzer-ming of the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics told a mid-February news conference. He reported that DGBAS is now forecasting GDP growth for Taiwan of 2.27% this year, down from the 2.41% it was predicting last…
2019 Lantern Festival Spotlights Pingtung This year’s national lantern festival was hosted by the southern county of Pingtung and held in the national scenic area of Dapeng Bay. The event highlighted the foods, products, and landscape of Pingtung. Normally the main lantern features the animal on the Chinese zodaic for which the year is named…
U.S. Senators Invite Tsai to Address Congress A group of U.S. senators has called for President Tsai Ing-wen to address a joint session of the U.S. Congress — a proposal that drew a characteristically cautious, non-committal response from the Taiwanese leader. The senators said having the Taiwanese leader speak to Congress would be consistent with…
Another Chapter in NTU Presidency Saga It appeared in December that the prolonged standoff between National Taiwan University and the Ministry of Education over the NTU faculty’s election of economist Kuan Chung-ming as university president had finally been resolved. Education Minister Yeh Jiunn-rong, who was moved over from the Interior Ministry specifically to bring the…
Su Tseng-chang Takes Office as New Premier Following Premier Lai Ching-te’s resignation due to the poor showing of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) in the November 2018 municipal elections, President Tsai tapped a senior DPP leader, Su Tseng-chang, to succeed him. The President told the media that she selected Su because he possesses three…
Tariff Rate Set for Offshore Wind Energy The Ministry of Economic Affairs in late January announced a new feed-in tariff for offshore wind power – a 5.71% reduction from the previous level but a smaller cut than the 12.71% previously proposed. The Ministry had been feeling pressure from two sides. Critics argued that the government…
Feeling the Pinch With the global trade environment growing increasingly uncertain, Taiwan recorded exports worth US$28.6 billion in December, 3% less than in the same month a year earlier. The Ministry of Finance attributed the dip largely to sluggish demand for semiconductors used in manufacturing smartphones. New export orders received in December told a similar…
