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.
‘CROWN JEWEL’: Washington ‘can delay and deter’ Chinese President Xi Jinping’s plans for Taiwan, but it is ‘a very delicate situation there,’ the secretary of state said US President Donald Trump is opposed to any change to Taiwan’s “status quo” by force or extortion and would maintain that policy, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the Hugh Hewitt Show host on Wednesday. The US’ policy is to maintain Taiwan’s “status quo” and to oppose any changes in the situation by force or extortion, Rubio said. Hewitt asked Rubio about the significance of Trump earlier this month speaking with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (台積電) chairman C.C. Wei (魏哲家) at the White House, a meeting that Hewitt described as a “big deal.” Asked whether the meeting was an indication of the
‘RELATIVELY STRONG LANGUAGE’: An expert said the state department has not softened its language on China and was ‘probably a little more Taiwan supportive’ China’s latest drills near Taiwan on Monday were “brazen and irresponsible threats,” a US Department of State spokesperson said on Tuesday, while reiterating Washington’s decades-long support of Taipei. “China cannot credibly claim to be a ‘force for stability in a turbulent world’ while issuing brazen and irresponsible threats toward Taiwan,” the unnamed spokesperson said in an e-mailed response to media queries. Washington’s enduring commitment to Taiwan will continue as it has for 45 years and the US “will continue to support Taiwan in the face of China’s military, economic, informational and diplomatic pressure campaign,” the e-mail said. “Alongside our international partners, we firmly
KAOHSIUNG CEREMONY: The contract chipmaker is planning to build 5 fabs in the southern city to gradually expand its 2-nanometer chip capacity Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, yesterday confirmed that it plans to hold a ceremony on March 31 to unveil a capacity expansion plan for its most advanced 2-nanometer chips in Kaohsiung, demonstrating its commitment to further investment at home. The ceremony is to be hosted by TSMC cochief operating officer Y.P. Chyn (秦永沛). It did not disclose whether Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) and high-ranking government officials would attend the ceremony. More details are to be released next week, it said. The chipmaker’s latest move came after its announcement earlier this month of an additional US$100 billion
Authorities yesterday elaborated on the rules governing Employment Gold Cards after a US cardholder was barred from entering Taiwan for six years after working without a permit during a 2023 visit. American YouTuber LeLe Farley was barred after already being approved for an Employment Gold Card, he said in a video published on his channel on Saturday. Farley, who has more than 420,000 subscribers on his YouTube channel, was approved for his Gold Card last month, but was told at a check-in counter at the Los Angeles International Airport that he could not enter Taiwan. That was because he previously participated in two
RSS