The nation's economy is unlikely to be affected by the passage of China's "anti-secession" law, as no timetable for unification is specified in the law's content, market watchers said yesterday.
On the local bourse, the benchmark TAIEX declined 48.72 points to close at 6,155.51 yesterday, while the local currency slid NT$0.012 to close at NT$30.862 against the US dollar.
The law, a draft of which was approved in committee late last year, is aimed to help China assert its legal claim over Taiwan. It allows the use of "non-peaceful means" to prevent Taiwan from seeking formal independence.
Though it may sound threatening, the law does not give a definite schedule for military action by China to push for unification with Taiwan, which means "it does not have specific lethality in its content," said Wu Pei-wei (
Most foreign investors will retain a positive view of Taiwan and other Asian countries, Wu said, adding that only retail investors might be swayed by the law's passage.
As the stock market did not experience major fluctuations, the government did not activate the National Stabilization Fund (
The fund will come into the stock market to maintain order only when non-economic factors disturb market transactions.
Wu Chung-shu (吳中書), a research fellow at Academia Sinica, said the nation's mighty economic momentum trumps political fluctuations when foreign traders assess their investment portfolios in Taiwan's stock market.
"The pressure to be applied by the passage of the law will not be that great, as the issue has been discussed for a long time," he said. "The government's follow-up reaction ... [is] more important."
David Hong (
Tropical Storm Usagi strengthened to a typhoon yesterday morning and remains on track to brush past southeastern Taiwan from tomorrow to Sunday, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was approximately 950km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan proper’s southernmost point, the CWA said. It is expected to enter the Bashi Channel and then turn north, moving into waters southeast of Taiwan, it said. The agency said it could issue a sea warning in the early hours of today and a land warning in the afternoon. As of 2pm yesterday, the storm was moving at
DISCONTENT: The CCP finds positive content about the lives of the Chinese living in Taiwan threatening, as such video could upset people in China, an expert said Chinese spouses of Taiwanese who make videos about their lives in Taiwan have been facing online threats from people in China, a source said yesterday. Some young Chinese spouses of Taiwanese make videos about their lives in Taiwan, often speaking favorably about their living conditions in the nation compared with those in China, the source said. However, the videos have caught the attention of Chinese officials, causing the spouses to come under attack by Beijing’s cyberarmy, they said. “People have been messing with the YouTube channels of these Chinese spouses and have been harassing their family members back in China,”
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said there are four weather systems in the western Pacific, with one likely to strengthen into a tropical storm and pose a threat to Taiwan. The nascent tropical storm would be named Usagi and would be the fourth storm in the western Pacific at the moment, along with Typhoon Yinxing and tropical storms Toraji and Manyi, the CWA said. It would be the first time that four tropical cyclones exist simultaneously in November, it added. Records from the meteorology agency showed that three tropical cyclones existed concurrently in January in 1968, 1991 and 1992.
GEOPOLITICAL CONCERNS: Foreign companies such as Nissan, Volkswagen and Konica Minolta have pulled back their operations in China this year Foreign companies pulled more money from China last quarter, a sign that some investors are still pessimistic even as Beijing rolls out stimulus measures aimed at stabilizing growth. China’s direct investment liabilities in its balance of payments dropped US$8.1 billion in the third quarter, data released by the Chinese State Administration of Foreign Exchange showed on Friday. The gauge, which measures foreign direct investment (FDI) in China, was down almost US$13 billion for the first nine months of the year. Foreign investment into China has slumped in the past three years after hitting a record in 2021, a casualty of geopolitical tensions,
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