Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) lawmakers yesterday urged the American Chamber of Commerce in Taipei (AmCham) to refrain from putting its members' business interests ahead of Taiwan's national interests.
The appeal was in response to an editorial in the latest edition of Taiwan Business TOPICS, the chamber's magazine, which listed disadvantages of the current cap on Taiwanese investment in China of 40 percent of a company's net worth.
"Once again we urge that the narrow political agenda of minor parties not be allowed to block an important step to ensure Taiwan's continued economic relevance," AmCham said in the editorial.
Although AmCham didn't specify which minority parties it referred to, TSU lawmakers called a press conference to criticize the organization.
"We are not saying that we are a minority party, but we have to make it clear that [AmCham's] argument was wrong," TSU Legislator Liao Pen-yen (
Liao said that past experiences had shown that increased investment in China was detrimental to the people of Taiwan.
"The national unemployment rate rose and the economic growth rate decreased in 2001, when the government's cross-strait policies were based on the principle of `active opening and effective management,'" Liao said.
"However, when the government reversed the principle to `active management and effective opening' in 2004, the economy started to show signs of recovery," he said.
Liao said that Taiwan's investment in China had reached 50.3 percent of the country's GDP, making Taiwan the country with the highest percentage of its GDP invested in China. He said South Korea invested 2.7 percent, Japan 0.6 percent and the US 0.3 percent.
Citing these data from the Chinese government, Liao asked why US businesspeople did not invest more in China if they were of the opinion that China was a profitable market.
Liao said that AmCham was dominated by taishang, Taiwanese businesspeople with investments overseas, and that this explained its "distorted" editorial.
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
RSS