A bi-weekly snapshot of Taiwan business news stories brought to you by CommonWealth and AmCham Taiwan’s TOPICS Ørsted signs investment agreement for Taiwan wind farm Danish wind power developer Ørsted signed an investment agreement in late December with Canadian institutional investor CDPQ (Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec) and local investor Cathay PE. Under…
The COVID-19 pandemic has had irreversible consequences for how people live. When it comes to investing, for example, incorporating Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG) factors in the decision has become the new normal. Despite the pandemic’s disruptions to portfolio formation this year, a massive increase in socially responsible investing has taken place across the board….
The global economy will be faced with a number of potential risk factors in 2021, including a renewed coronavirus spike in Europe and the U.S., a breakdown in financial stimulation policy negotiations in the U.S., and continued further deterioration in U.S.-China relations. Nevertheless, the latest World Economic Outlook report from the International Monetary Fund (IMF),…
Once Taiwan’s second city and a major industrial hub, Kaohsiung has seen better days. Now it hopes to make a comeback by increasing investment in innovative and eco-friendly industries and boosting tourism. Nothing better symbolizes Kaohsiung’s economic ups and downs than its harbor. Thirty years ago, the southern city ranked among the world’s top-three busiest…
Several major global economic and political factors – namely, the U.S.-China trade dispute, Brexit, the protests in Hong Kong, as well as volatile oil and commodity prices – cast a shadow in the past year over global demand, trade, and industrial production. In Taiwan, the presidential election and cross-Strait relationship added uncertainty, potentially dampening the…
Offshore Wind Enters Commercial Stage President Tsai Ing-wen attended the inauguration of Taiwan’s first commercial-scale offshore wind farm, Formosa 1, on November 12 in a ceremony at the Longfeng Fishing Harbor in Miaoli. Located between two and six kilometers off the coast of Miaoli, the NT$18.7 billion (over US$623 million), 128-megawatt (MW) project is designed…
As the U.S.-China trade war continues, an air of uncertainty hangs over the global financial-services sector. The precariousness of the situation caused stock markets to perform very poorly last year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average’s annual return for 2018 was -5.63%, while the S&P 500 returned -6.24%, the first decline for the two indexes after…
Taiwan has an opportunity to attract more of these investments. Well over a century ago, the Rockefellers pioneered the idea of establishing a professionally staffed “family office” to manage private investments on behalf of members of the family. Since then, many ultra-wealthy family groups have followed suit. In recent years, according to an article in…
Each autumn, the Ministry of Economic Affairs holds a Taiwan Business Alliance Conference to promote Taiwan’s advantages as a location for foreign investment and to spotlight new business opportunities. This year’s program, held October 7 at the Taipei International Convention Center, included a new wrinkle. For the first time, the Ministry presented an “Economic Contribution…
There’s more to buoyant two-way FDI flows than generous taxation policies. Back in the 1600s, the Dutch were Taiwan’s first foreign investors, with their legendary Dutch East Indian Company setting up Fort Zeelandia in what is now the Anping district of Tainan. Fast-forwarding to the present, the Netherlands for the past three years has been…
