AmCham Taipei played a key supportive role when formal diplomatic ties ended 40 years ago. Forty years ago, it seemed inevitable to many that Washington would eventually establish diplomatic ties with Beijing. But one of the big unknowns was how this monumental shift would affect Taiwan. Before President Jimmy Carter finally announced the switch on…
AmCham also worked closely with the Taiwan government in 1979 to preserve – or refashion – important expat community institutions. The U.S. decision in late 1978 to cut diplomatic relations with Taiwan suddenly put at risk the ability of various American community institutions in Taipei to continue operating. Those entities’ legal status in Taiwan had…
Forty years ago, AmCham Taipei members found themselves in the middle of a giant geopolitical shift – the new diplomatic alliance between Washington and Beijing. The ramifications for Taiwan were significant, creating serious challenges that are described well in this issue of TOPICS. The heroic way AmCham members stepped up to meet the challenges is…
I recently attended a dinner party with former AmCham Taipei members who were visiting Taiwan after moving away years ago. They reminisced about how much they loved living here and how much they miss the island. It was obvious that their time spent here ranked high among the happiest periods of their lives – professionally…
AmCham Taipei’s Private Equity Committee suspended operations in late 2017 in frustration over the difficulty PE firms were facing in Taiwan in gaining approval for investment applications. In a number of cases over the previous six years, investment plans by PE companies had been either rejected outright or stalled so long that the prospective investor…
I used to wait until breakfast before reading the news. Now it’s the first thing I do after shutting off my alarm. Before getting out of bed, I reach for my iPhone and start scanning the headlines of The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Financial Times for positive news that might have broken…
Aloha Hawaii” was the theme of the dazzling 2018 American Ball, co-organized by AmCham Taipei and the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT). On the evening of November 3, AmCham members and their guests entered the beautifully decorated (thanks to the Feng Ze Design Center) Grand Ballroom of the Grand Hyatt Taipei and immediately imagined them-selves…
TOPICS readers are surely aware of the important role of AmCham Taipei, but may not realize that Taiwan also has two other American chambers. Located in the financial, commercial, and political capital of the country, AmCham Taipei is the oldest, largest, and most influential U.S. business organization in Taiwan. Since its founding in 1951, its…
In recent years, Dan Silver played a central role in the AmCham Taipei leadership. Besides serving as Chairman in 2016, he fulfilled two two-year terms as a member of the Board of Governors (2014-2017) and at different times was a co-chair of two committees, Medical Devices and Public Health. A graduate of Brandeis University in…
Indications from a recent conference are that the welcome mat is back out. Private-equity financing in Taiwan appears poised to make a comeback. For a time more than a decade ago, leading global PE firms played an active role in the Taiwan market, investing in major deals in such industries as cable television and financial…
