Foreign exchange regulators said yesterday that they are poised to deregulate currency exchange between the New Taiwan dollar and the yuan — as long as legal revisions are finalized by the legislature.
“We’re ready,” central bank Deputy Governor George Chou (周阿定) said, whose comments were echoed by Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) Chairman Hu Sheng-cheng (胡勝正) and acting Minister of Finance Lee Ruey-tsang (李瑞倉) at the legislature’s Finance Committee.
Once Article 38 of the Statute Governing the Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (兩岸人民關係條例) is revised by the legislature and a currency clearing agreement is inked between Taiwan and China, the central bank, the FSC and the ministry said they will speed up their preparations for the free exchange of the NT dollar and the yuan.
The central bank proposed a two-phase process yesterday. The incoming government should adopt a one-way exchange first, allowing domestic banks to buy Chinese yuan since the supply of yuan remains a big question because the central bank has no yuan in reserves, Chou said.
Once China agrees to sign a currency-clearing pact to ensure the yuan’s convertability and supply, a currency exchange can be opened once domestic banks have been trained to identify fake yuan bills, he said.
Taiwanese made 4 million trips to China last year, which would put great pressure on domestic banks if they are immediately asked to sell yuan, Chou said.
A test run that allowed banks in Kinmen and Matsu to trade less than 20,000 yuan (US$2,850) per person showed that banks there sold 443.8 million yuan between October 2005 and last month — six times more than the 78.56 million yuan they bought during the same period, central bank statistics show.
Since the yuan is not a “fully convertible” currency like the US dollar, it could be risky to hold too much of the currency, Chou said.
INVESTIGATION: The case is the latest instance of a DPP figure being implicated in an espionage network accused of allegedly leaking information to Chinese intelligence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) member Ho Jen-chieh (何仁傑) was detained and held incommunicado yesterday on suspicion of spying for China during his tenure as assistant to then-minister of foreign affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮). The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office said Ho was implicated during its investigation into alleged spying activities by former Presidential Office consultant Wu Shang-yu (吳尚雨). Prosecutors said there is reason to believe Ho breached the National Security Act (國家安全法) by leaking classified Ministry of Foreign Affairs information to Chinese intelligence. Following interrogation, prosecutors petitioned the Taipei District Court to detain Ho, citing concerns over potential collusion or tampering of evidence. The
Seventy percent of middle and elementary schools now conduct English classes entirely in English, the Ministry of Education said, as it encourages schools nationwide to adopt this practice Minister of Education (MOE) Cheng Ying-yao (鄭英耀) is scheduled to present a report on the government’s bilingual education policy to the Legislative Yuan’s Education and Culture Committee today. The report would outline strategies aimed at expanding access to education, reducing regional disparities and improving talent cultivation. Implementation of bilingual education policies has varied across local governments, occasionally drawing public criticism. For example, some schools have required teachers of non-English subjects to pass English proficiency
NEGOTIATIONS: The US response to the countermeasures and plans Taiwan presented has been positive, including boosting procurement and investment, the president said Taiwan is included in the first group for trade negotiations with the US, President William Lai (賴清德) said yesterday, as he seeks to shield Taiwanese exporters from a 32 percent tariff. In Washington, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said in an interview on Fox News on Thursday that he would speak to his Taiwanese and Israeli counterparts yesterday about tariffs after holding a long discussion with the Vietnamese earlier. US President Donald Trump on Wednesday postponed punishing levies on multiple trade partners, including Taiwan, for three months after trillions of US dollars were wiped off global markets. He has maintained a 10 percent
TRADE: The premier pledged safeguards on ‘Made in Taiwan’ labeling, anti-dumping measures and stricter export controls to strengthen its position in trade talks Products labeled “made in Taiwan” must be genuinely made in Taiwan, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday, vowing to enforce strict safeguards against “origin laundering” and initiate anti-dumping investigations to prevent China dumping its products in Taiwan. Cho made the remarks in a discussion session with representatives from industries in Kaohsiung. In response to the US government’s recent announcement of “reciprocal” tariffs on its trading partners, President William Lai (賴清德) and Cho last week began a series of consultations with industry leaders nationwide to gather feedback and address concerns. Taiwanese and US officials held a videoconference on Friday evening to discuss the
RSS