Repatriation plans reach NT$355.96bn
As of Sept. 14, the ministry had approved about NT$301.7 billion in repatriated overseas funds, including NT$180 billion from for-profit enterprises and NT$121.7 billion from individuals, the ministry said in a statement. “As the approval of repatriation applications takes time, and the repatriation and investment undergo certain procedures, the repatriation and investment amounts will likely continue to increase,” the ministry said. “However, with full cooperation between the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Financial Supervisory Commission and the central bank, the results of implementing the overseas funds repatriation law are in line with expectations and inject energy into the domestic economy,” it said. Apart from the repatriation law, the return of Taiwanese manufacturers and policy efforts to facilitate domestic investment have also reignited Taiwan’s economy over the past two years, government officials and economists have said. The investments are expected to create 113,775 jobs, the ministry said in a statement on Friday, after it had approved the plans of four more companies.
Source:Taipei Times
September 26, 2021 15:56 UTC
Central Bank working to avoid manipulator label
Central Bank working to avoid manipulator labelBy Crystal Hsu / Staff reporterThe central bank would continue communicating with the US to avoid being labeled a currency manipulator next month when the US Department of the Treasury renews its list, the bank said on Thursday. Central bank Governor Yang Chin-long speaks at a meeting of the legislature’s Finance Committee in Taipei on March 11. Photo: CNAThe US understood that the COVID-19 pandemic and major central banks’ money-printing programs helped account for the imbalances, Yang said. Strong exports inflate Taiwan’s current account and propel hot money to the local exchange market, Yang said. One way to address trade imbalances is for Taiwan to stop selling chips, but the US and the world need them, Yang added.
Source:Taipei Times
September 26, 2021 15:56 UTC
Intel breaks ground on US$20bn plants in chip turnaround
Intel breaks ground on US$20bn plants in chip turnaroundReutersIntel Corp on Friday broke ground on two new factories in Arizona as part of its turnaround plan to become a major manufacturer of chips for outside customers. The US$20 billion plants — dubbed Fab 52 and Fab 62 — would bring the total number of Intel factories at its campus in Chandler, Arizona, to six. Photo: ReutersThe new Arizona plants would also be the first Intel has built from the ground up with space reserved for outside customers. Intel rival TSMC has also purchased land to build its first US campus in Phoenix, not far from Intel’s location, where TSMC plans up to six chip factories. Gelsinger said that Intel plans to announce another US campus site before the end of the year that would eventually hold eight chip factories.
Source:Taipei Times
September 26, 2021 15:56 UTC
CECC reports eight imported, zero local cases
CECC reports eight imported, zero local casesON ALERT: The CECC still needs to see how travel during the Mid-Autumn Festival affected the virus situation, but it plans to reveal eased rules todayBy Lee I-chia / Staff reporterThe Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) yesterday reported eight imported COVID-19 cases, but no local cases or deaths. Six of the imported cases are students from Myanmar, while the other two are from Indonesia and the United Arab Emirates, said Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center. There have been no new local COVID-19 cases for four of the past six days, which is a good sign, he said, adding that community spread of the virus has been steadily brought under control. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung attends the daily briefing at the Central Epidemic Command Center in Taipei yesterday. To date, Taiwan has confirmed 16,189 COVID-19 cases, of which 14,415 were domestic infections reported from May 15, when the country first recorded more than 100 cases in a single day.
Source:Taipei Times
September 26, 2021 15:56 UTC
Hon Hai to add 20 ‘lighthouse’ factories
Hon Hai to add 20 ‘lighthouse’ factoriesMANUFACTURING EVOLVED: The WEF last year recognized 11 Hon Hai sites in China as lighthouse factories, while this year it hopes to add ones in Taiwan and Vietnam, it saidStaff writer, with CNAHon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), the world’s largest contract electronics maker, plans to add 20 “lighthouse” factories this year to expand into smart manufacturing. In a virtual SEMICON Taiwan forum on Friday, Hon Hai chief information officer Michael Kung (龔培元) said that lighthouse factories have become a leading indicator of smart manufacturing. In addition to plants in China, Hon Hai has listed sites in Taiwan and Vietnam as potential lighthouse factories, Kung said. Upgrading production sites into recognized lighthouse factories has improved efficiency, lowered inventories and reduced labor costs, Kung said. Hon Hai has provided its subsidiaries a standardized production management platform and the necessary technologies to upgrade their plants into lighthouse factories, he said.
Source:Taipei Times
September 26, 2021 15:56 UTC
Kim’s sister warming to ending Korean hostilities
Kim’s sister warming to ending Korean hostilitiesBloombergKim Yo-jong, the influential sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, reached out to South Korea for a second time in recent days, saying Pyongyang would consider taking part in another inter-Korean summit and declaring an end to the war if Seoul adopts a less hostile policy. Kim Yo Jong, sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, attends a wreath-laying ceremony at Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum in Hanoi, Vietnam, on March 2, 2019. North Korea also did not answer an inter-Korean hotline call earlier last month in protest against the military drills. The move put major Chinese cities under South Korea’s range and increases Seoul’s ability to strike North Korea. Resuming inter-Korean talks could influence Moon — a long-time proponent of reconciliation — to prioritize the high-stakes negotiations rather than military modernization.
Source:Taipei Times
September 26, 2021 15:56 UTC
Usyk dethrones Joshua, claiming titles
Usyk dethrones Joshua, claiming titlesOUTCLASSED: Despite lacking height, weight and reach advantages, Oleksandr Usyk proved too elusive for Anthony Joshua and landed much cleaner punchesReuters, LONDONUkraine’s Oleksandr Usyk on Saturday dethroned world heavyweight champion Anthony Joshua in his own backyard, with a stunning display that led to a unanimous decision in front of a sellout crowd at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Oleksandr Usyk defeats Anthony Joshua for the WBA, IBF, IBO and WBO heavyweight titles in their bout at the Totteham Hotspur Stadium in London on Saturday. He is only the third cruiserweight world champion to step up a weight and become the heavyweight world champion since Evander Holyfield and David Haye. Constantly on the move, Usyk rocked Joshua in the third round with a powerful left hand. “Congratulations to Oleksandr Usyk.
Source:Taipei Times
September 26, 2021 15:56 UTC
Time is ripe for CPTPP bid: ministry
Time is ripe for CPTPP bid: ministryBy Chen Cheng-hui / Staff reporterThe Ministry of Economic Affairs said that now is the best time for Taiwan to apply to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), after the nation on Wednesday submitted its application to New Zealand, the legal depositary for the 11-member trade bloc. In a written report to the Legislative Yuan, the ministry said that it is scheduled to brief lawmakers on the impacts of joining the CPTPP on Taiwan’s industries at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee today. The ministry is also expected to brief lawmakers about the government’s contingency plans for local industries in preparation for a potential accession to the CPTPP, the Central News Agency (CNA) reported yesterday. The ministry said in the report that Taiwan’s importance in global supply chains is increasing, and being a member of the CPTPP could further consolidate Taiwan’s position in supply chains in the Asia-Pacific region. Additionally, the 11 CPTPP members have close trade relations with Taiwan, as they together accounted for about 24.3 percent of Taiwan’s trade last year, the ministry said.
Source:Taipei Times
September 26, 2021 15:56 UTC
Exhibition in Taipei spotlights ‘genocide’ in Tibet
Exhibition in Taipei spotlights ‘genocide’ in TibetBy Chen Yu-fu / Staff reporterAn exhibition on Tibet opened at a bookstore in central Taipei yesterday, highlighting human rights abuses by the Chinese Communist Party in the region. Tung, who is a member of the Students for a Free Tibet-Taiwan, said that China systematically oppresses Tibetans and denies them access to education about their own language and culture. Tung Ching-jung stands in front of her portrait of the Dalai Lama at the independent bookstore To-uat Books in Taipei yesterday at an exhibition on Tibet that runs until Oct. 9. China’s oppression of Tibetans is based on destroying their culture and closing local schools in which students can learn about their own background, he said. Tibetans have been imprisoned for speaking their language or beaten to death for having a photograph of the Dalai Lama on their mobile phone, he said, calling the measures “genocide.”The exhibition, hosted by the Human Rights Network for Tibet and Taiwan, and Students for a Free Tibet-Taiwan, is to run until Oct. 9.
Source:Taipei Times
September 26, 2021 15:56 UTC
Crypto exchange giants stop taking China users
Crypto exchange giants stop taking China usersBloombergTwo of the world’s largest bitcoin exchanges have halted new registrations for Chinese users, taking one of the first actions to comply with Beijing’s latest cryptocurrency ban. New sign-ups are still available for Hong Kong users on both platforms, but mainland China is no longer an option for new-account creation. Friday’s notice specifically called out offshore exchanges targeting Chinese users, banning them from hiring locally for roles from marketing to payment settlement and tech. Still, Chinese users have been able to access their services including over-the-counter trading and crypto-to-crypto transactions. In June, Huobi banned Chinese users from trading riskier products such as derivatives, after China’s Cabinet called for a renewed clampdown on crypto trading and mining.
Source:Taipei Times
September 26, 2021 15:56 UTC
German election too close to call: polls
Recent polls point to a neck-and-neck race between Merkel’s center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and the Social Democrats, with the latter marginally ahead. The polls show the Greens, making their first bid for the chancellorship, in third place after a campaign in which all three have held the lead. That set up the first election since West Germany’s initial vote in 1949 in which there is no incumbent chancellor seeking re-election. Whoever finishes first is expected to get a historically low share of the vote, with polls showing no party expected to get 30 percent support. When the CDU and the Greens chose their candidates this spring, the election was widely expected to be a race between the two.
Source:Taipei Times
September 25, 2021 16:02 UTC
NBA denies Andrew Wiggins vaccination exemption
NBA denies Andrew Wiggins vaccination exemptionAP, GREENBURGH, New YorkThe NBA on Friday denied Andrew Wiggins’ request for a COVID-19 vaccination exemption, leaving the Golden State Warriors swingman ineligible to play home games until he meets San Francisco’s vaccination requirement. Wiggins is one of the highest-profile NBA players to publicly say that he will not take the vaccine. Golden State Warriors forward Andrew Wiggins, top, defends against Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant during their NBA game at the Chase Center in San Francisco on May 21. “The NBA has reviewed and denied Andrew Wiggins’ request for religious exemption from the San Francisco Department of Public Health’s order requiring COVID-19 vaccination for all participants age 12 and older at large indoor events,” the league said in a statement. “I’m proud to say that our organization — players, coaches and staff — are 100 percent vaccinated,” Knicks general manager Scott Perry said.
Source:Taipei Times
September 25, 2021 15:56 UTC
Donation of 500,000 shots arrives from Japan: CECC
Donation of 500,000 shots arrives from Japan: CECCBy Lee I-chia / Staff reporterA fifth shipment of COVID-19 vaccines donated by Japan arrived in Taiwan yesterday, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said, as it reported no new local infections or deaths, but five imported cases. Minister of Health and Welfare Chen Shih-chung (陳時中), who heads the center, said that the batch of 500,000 AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine doses arrived at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport at noon. Customs inspectors stand by at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport yesterday as workers unload a batch of 500,000 AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine doses donated by Japan. On Friday, 259,781 vaccine doses were administered, bringing the nation’s first-dose coverage rate to 51.49 percent, Chen said. As of Friday, 12,075,243 people had received a first dose of a vaccine, and 2,067,218 had received two doses, CECC data showed.
Source:Taipei Times
September 25, 2021 15:56 UTC
Researchers look to frogs to create anti-barnacle film
Researchers look to frogs to create anti-barnacle filmBy Su Meng-chuan and Jake Chung / Staff reporter, with staff writerA research team at National Chung Hsing University has developed a substance inspired by frog skin to prevent biofouling on ships and offshore equipment. Some biofouling substances can damage precision electronic equipment if they seep inside a ship, he said. Observing frog skin magnified 30,000 times, the team saw that there were dots and grooves on the skin that helped store a lubricant, which frogs secrete on their skin, he said. The team determined that frogs were unaffected by algae or other biofouling substances in the water because of these microscopic orifices that store a lubricant that kept the substances off their skin, Hsueh said. Using polymeric synthesis technology, the team created a film with microscopic wrinkles and injected silicone into tiny artificially created holes simulating the frogs’ skin, he said.
Source:Taipei Times
September 25, 2021 15:56 UTC
Oil advances for fifth straight week
Oil advances for fifth straight weekBloombergOil rose for a fifth straight week with the global energy crunch set to boost demand for crude as stockpiles decline from the US to China. West Texas Intermediate for November delivery gained 0.93 percent to US$73.98 a barrel, up 2.79 percent from a week earlier. The surge in natural gas prices is expected to force some consumers to switch to oil, tightening the market further ahead of the northern hemisphere winter. Various underlying oil market gauges are also pointing to an improving market. Money managers increased their bullish ICE Brent bets positions to the most in six months, indicating many believe there is yet more room for crude prices to climb.
Source:Taipei Times
September 25, 2021 15:56 UTC