A weekly snapshot of Taiwan business news stories brought to you by CommonWealth and AmCham Taiwan’s TOPICS Fubon acquires majority stake in Jih Sun Fubon Financial Holding Co. announced on March 23 that it had successfully completed the public tender to acquire a 53.84% stake in Jih Sun Financial Holding, making it the largest shareholder…
Taiwan has often found itself underestimated or overlooked by the rest of the world – sometimes mistaken for Thailand or considered largely through the prism of China’s view of the island. Lately, however, Taiwan has been coming in for unaccustomed international attention. Over the past 14 months, its government’s early action and skillful handling of…
By Austin Babb and Jason Wu COVID Success Lures Foreigners Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Taiwan continues to be an attractive location for foreign talent. Ministry of Labor statistics show an 18% increase in foreign white-collar workers in Taiwan since last year. In addition, there was an astounding 300% rise in 2020 in the number…
By Austin Babb and Jason Wu Taiwan Secures COVID Vaccines As of February 21, Taiwan has secured around 20 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from three different sources. It is expected to begin a rollout of the vaccine by early March, according to Health and Welfare Minister Chen Shih-chung. Taiwan will obtain 10 million doses…
A more hostile environment for journalists and NGOs in China and Hong Kong could make Taiwan an ideal location to open regional bureaus and offices. Taiwan is arguably one of the world’s most misunderstood places. Even major media corporations often get it wrong. For example, last December U.S.-based ABC News mistakenly referred to Tsai Ing-wen…
How have other, less well-reported-on industries coped with the changes brought on by this global pandemic? Insiders say that digital transformation and flexibility are crucial. This year as the economic impact of coronavirus rippled around the world, the hardship of some industries was more conspicuous than at others. Images of ghostly streets in Milan and…
By Austin Babb and Jason Wu Taiwan Records Local Infections Taiwan’s stellar record of 253 days with zero local COVID-19 infections came to an end after an EVA Air pilot from New Zealand tested positive in late December. According to the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC), the pilot violated virus prevention rules and transmitted the…
This year’s Business Climate Survey results indicated a record high level of optimism in the Taiwan economy among our member companies. Nearly 86% were confident about Taiwan’s economic growth in the next 12 months – up from around 60% one year ago. Such an outlook may seem counterintuitive given the impact of COVID-19 (80% of…
In the nearly year-long absence of international travelers, Taipei’s hotels have begun shifting some of their focus to their food and beverage business, offering attractive package deals and coming up with new, delicious ways to draw in the island’s domestic travelers. As international travel to Taiwan ground to a complete halt last spring following the…
COVID-19 has brought a spike in global demand for various types of information and communication technology – both in terms of goods and services. As a result, Taiwan has been among the few countries to have maintained a positive economic growth rate despite the pandemic. However, some of this demand is likely to be a…
