The European Chamber of Commerce Taiwan (ECCT) on Wednesday night called on the government to show greater resolve in building the nation into a regional hub for the development of offshore wind energy.
“Wind energy has the potential to increase energy security, reduce pollution and create a new high-value industry in Taiwan,” Taiwan ECCT chairman Giuseppe Izzo said during an annual dinner with top-ranking government officials and industry representatives.
However, the government must keep a stable, consistent and predictable regulatory framework to boost business confidence in the industry’s sustainability, he said.
Photo: CNA
Hurdles and bottlenecks that need to be overcome include grid connections, finance, insurance, vessels, infrastructure and talent recruitment, he said.
Localization requirements must be flexible enough to allow time to build facilities, training staff and ramping up production without raising costs, causing delays or compromising safety and quality standards, he said.
Developers should also be allowed to adjust their plans to take advantage of the latest technology when it becomes available, he said.
More could be done to remove discriminatory treatment toward foreign residents in Taiwan, Izzo said.
He cited various benefits, such as transportation discounts for pensioners and disabled people, as well as subsidies for electric vehicles, that have not been extended to foreign residents.
“Foreigners who live, work and pay taxes in Taiwan should be granted the same rights and privileges due Taiwanese,” he said.
On the subject of healthcare, Taiwan’s health insurance system is facing challenges from a low birthrate and rapidly aging society, Izzo said.
The resulting increase in chronic diseases is putting a strain on resources, he said.
He pressed for further investment in disease prevention and adoption of more flexible business models to increase private sector involvement in healthcare.
ECCT reiterated its support for the government’s efforts to turn Taiwan into a bilingual nation by 2030 and the goal to boost English proficiency to enhance the nation’s competitiveness on the world stage.
RECYCLE: Taiwan would aid manufacturers in refining rare earths from discarded appliances, which would fit the nation’s circular economy goals, minister Kung said Taiwan would work with the US and Japan on a proposed cooperation initiative in response to Beijing’s newly announced rare earth export curbs, Minister of Economic Affairs Kung Ming-hsin (龔明鑫) said yesterday. China last week announced new restrictions requiring companies to obtain export licenses if their products contain more than 0.1 percent of Chinese-origin rare earths by value. US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent on Wednesday responded by saying that Beijing was “unreliable” in its rare earths exports, adding that the US would “neither be commanded, nor controlled” by China, several media outlets reported. Japanese Minister of Finance Katsunobu Kato yesterday also
Taiwan’s rapidly aging population is fueling a sharp increase in homes occupied solely by elderly people, a trend that is reshaping the nation’s housing market and social fabric, real-estate brokers said yesterday. About 850,000 residences were occupied by elderly people in the first quarter, including 655,000 that housed only one resident, the Ministry of the Interior said. The figures have nearly doubled from a decade earlier, Great Home Realty Co (大家房屋) said, as people aged 65 and older now make up 20.8 percent of the population. “The so-called silver tsunami represents more than just a demographic shift — it could fundamentally redefine the
China Airlines Ltd (CAL, 中華航空) said it expects peak season effects in the fourth quarter to continue to boost demand for passenger flights and cargo services, after reporting its second-highest-ever September sales on Monday. The carrier said it posted NT$15.88 billion (US$517 million) in consolidated sales last month, trailing only September last year’s NT$16.01 billion. Last month, CAL generated NT$8.77 billion from its passenger flights and NT$5.37 billion from cargo services, it said. In the first nine months of this year, the carrier posted NT$154.93 billion in cumulative sales, up 2.62 percent from a year earlier, marking the second-highest level for the January-September
Businesses across the global semiconductor supply chain are bracing themselves for disruptions from an escalating trade war, after China imposed curbs on rare earth mineral exports and the US responded with additional tariffs and restrictions on software sales to the Asian nation. China’s restrictions, the most targeted move yet to limit supplies of rare earth materials, represent the first major attempt by Beijing to exercise long-arm jurisdiction over foreign companies to target the semiconductor industry, threatening to stall the chips powering the artificial intelligence (AI) boom. They prompted US President Donald Trump on Friday to announce that he would impose an additional
RSS