Taipei is a good place to live, scoring high in a recent survey that shows increased satisfaction with the city among foreigners, the Taipei-based European Chamber of Commerce Taipei (ECCT) said.
“We can say that living in Taipei is a very satisfying and enjoyable experience for the majority of the international community. Certainly, not everything is perfect, but it is a lot better than most places and it is improving all the time,” the ECCT said in the latest edition of its bimonthly magazine Euro View.
In the latest quality of living survey jointly sponsored by the ECCT’s Better Living Committee and leading research agency TNS, Taipei compares very favorably with other Asian cities in terms of the quality of living.
Building on the format of a first survey carried out in 2006, this year’s poll was conducted with a series of focus groups and in-depth interviews with a broad cross-section of foreigners to dig a little deeper than a formal questionnaire and ensure that all relevant aspects of living abroad would be included, the article said, adding that 118 ECCT members participated.
Of the people surveyed, 61 percent described the overall quality of living in Taipei as “very good” or “excellent,” a big jump from 2006, when just 36 percent gave those responses.
While Singapore and Tokyo were seen as offering a slightly higher standard of living, Taipei was ahead of cities in China, Southeast Asia and the Indian subcontinent, as well as Seoul and Manila, the article said, while for all its history as an international gateway, Hong Kong was rated on a par with Taipei.
“It is interesting to note that for many, Taipei exceeds their original expectations,” the article said.
For most people who have just arrived or have yet to arrive, their image of the city is either vague or negative, since it is difficult to find out much about Taipei from overseas and many see Taipei as a very business-oriented city with few opportunities for leisure and relaxation, the article said.
“However, once settled, the reality is quite different and the great majority relish the experience of being here,” it said.
Taipei received high scores for being a safe place to live with high quality medical and emergency services, as well as being a very technologically minded city, with above-average Internet services.
“The one area that causes some concern is banking, which is not felt to be particularly ‘foreigner-friendly,’” the article said.
Opening accounts, managing funds and obtaining services such as credit cards and loans all seem more difficult for foreigners than locals.
MULTIFACETED: A task force has analyzed possible scenarios and created responses to assist domestic industries in dealing with US tariffs, the economics minister said The Executive Yuan is tomorrow to announce countermeasures to US President Donald Trump’s planned reciprocal tariffs, although the details of the plan would not be made public until Monday next week, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. The Cabinet established an economic and trade task force in November last year to deal with US trade and tariff related issues, Kuo told reporters outside the legislature in Taipei. The task force has been analyzing and evaluating all kinds of scenarios to identify suitable responses and determine how best to assist domestic industries in managing the effects of Trump’s tariffs, he
TIGHT-LIPPED: UMC said it had no merger plans at the moment, after Nikkei Asia reported that the firm and GlobalFoundries were considering restarting merger talks United Microelectronics Corp (UMC, 聯電), the world’s No. 4 contract chipmaker, yesterday launched a new US$5 billion 12-inch chip factory in Singapore as part of its latest effort to diversify its manufacturing footprint amid growing geopolitical risks. The new factory, adjacent to UMC’s existing Singapore fab in the Pasir Res Wafer Fab Park, is scheduled to enter volume production next year, utilizing mature 22-nanometer and 28-nanometer process technologies, UMC said in a statement. The company plans to invest US$5 billion during the first phase of the new fab, which would have an installed capacity of 30,000 12-inch wafers per month, it said. The
Taiwan’s official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) last month rose 0.2 percentage points to 54.2, in a second consecutive month of expansion, thanks to front-loading demand intended to avoid potential US tariff hikes, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. While short-term demand appeared robust, uncertainties rose due to US President Donald Trump’s unpredictable trade policy, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) told a news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s economy this year would be characterized by high-level fluctuations and the volatility would be wilder than most expect, Lien said Demand for electronics, particularly semiconductors, continues to benefit from US technology giants’ effort
‘SWASTICAR’: Tesla CEO Elon Musk’s close association with Donald Trump has prompted opponents to brand him a ‘Nazi’ and resulted in a dramatic drop in sales Demonstrators descended on Tesla Inc dealerships across the US, and in Europe and Canada on Saturday to protest company chief Elon Musk, who has amassed extraordinary power as a top adviser to US President Donald Trump. Waving signs with messages such as “Musk is stealing our money” and “Reclaim our country,” the protests largely took place peacefully following fiery episodes of vandalism on Tesla vehicles, dealerships and other facilities in recent weeks that US officials have denounced as terrorism. Hundreds rallied on Saturday outside the Tesla dealership in Manhattan. Some blasted Musk, the world’s richest man, while others demanded the shuttering of his
RSS