BY JULIA BERGSTRÖM Nancy Pelosi, Foreign Delegates Visit Taiwan  U.S. Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan on August 2-3, to which China responded by launching military exercises around the island. The Speaker’s trip included meetings with President Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) Chairperson Mark Liu, and high-profile human rights…

By Sheherzad Jamal Palau Reaffirms Its Taiwan Commitment Despite sustained political pressure from China, Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr. last month reaffirmed his commitment to upholding diplomatic relations with Taiwan. In an interview with Nikkei Asia at this year’s Pacific Islands Forum, which took place July 11-14, Whipps noted that while Palau has been “under…

By Courtney Donovan Smith Taishang Factories Disrupted by COVID-19 Taiwanese manufacturers in China, particularly those based in Shanghai and neighboring Kunshan, have suffered plant closures and supply chain issues due to China’s “dynamic zero-COVID” policies and the extended lockdown of the Shanghai region, widespread disruptions to trucking within China, and delays at the port of…

By Courtney Donovan Smith April Marks End to Zero-COVID Policy Locally transmitted cases in Taiwan have been rising exponentially since early April, as the Omicron variant began spreading across the island. Recognizing the variant’s infectiousness, the economic costs of the zero-COVID approach, and that almost all reported cases have been mild or asymptomatic, the government…

By Courtney Donovan Smith Experts Split On Economic Forecast Uncertainty about inflation and supply chain resilience have led various organizations to reach different projections about the economy’s direction this year. The Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER) in April raised its forecast of Taiwan’s 2022 GDP growth by 0.29 percentage points to 3.96%. CIER attributed…