A major local trade group yesterday pressed the government to assess the potential effects of China’s probe of Taipei-imposed trade barriers, as Taiwan’s agricultural and textile products cannot compete with the cutthroat prices of Chinese counterparts.
The Third Wednesday Club, at which membership is limited to the top 100 firms in each business sector, made the request during its monthly gathering in Taipei.
“The government should take action to gain a better grasp of the investigation and see which sectors would be affected,” Third Wednesday Club chairman Lin Por-fong (林伯豐) said.
Photo: CNA
Policymakers should then come up with response measures, and provide necessary and timely help for affected companies and sectors, said Lin, who is chairman of Taiwan Glass Industry Corp (台灣玻璃).
China launched the probe into Taiwan’s trade barriers on more than 2,400 Chinese product types, mainly products from the agricultural, textile and mineral sectors, after the Chinese Ministry of Commerce said it received complaints from Chinese trade groups.
China plans to conclude the investigation by Oct. 12, but might extend it by three months to Jan. 12 next year. It was not known when the results of the investigation would be unveiled.
Taiwan’s agricultural and textile products cannot afford to participate in a price war with cheap Chinese goods, Lin said.
Beijing is apparently seeking to take action against Taiwan based on WTO rules, in which Taiwan and China are members, he said.
The investigation could deal a heavy blow to Taiwanese makers of agricultural, textile, mineral and chemical products, he said.
“The government should sit down and talk with China to iron out bilateral economic and political differences,” Lin said.
If things fail to improve, the government can help affected companies by easing their energy and labor costs, and tax burdens, he said.
Policymakers can loosen the cap on migrant workers, lifting it to 45 percent from 40 percent, and extend their maximum stay to 14 years from 12 years to mitigate labor costs, Lin said.
Relief of business, corporate income and sales taxation, as well as electricity and land price discounts would also help, he said.
Firms have had difficulty acquiring industrial land to build facilities and the government can help make idle industrial plots at industrial parks more accessible, he added.
ISSUES: Gogoro has been struggling with ballooning losses and was recently embroiled in alleged subsidy fraud, using Chinese-made components instead of locally made parts Gogoro Inc (睿能創意), the nation’s biggest electric scooter maker, yesterday said that its chairman and CEO Horace Luke (陸學森) has resigned amid chronic losses and probes into the company’s alleged involvement in subsidy fraud. The board of directors nominated Reuntex Group (潤泰集團) general counsel Tamon Tseng (曾夢達) as the company’s new chairman, Gogoro said in a statement. Ruentex is Gogoro’s biggest stakeholder. Gogoro Taiwan general manager Henry Chiang (姜家煒) is to serve as acting CEO during the interim period, the statement said. Luke’s departure came as a bombshell yesterday. As a company founder, he has played a key role in pushing for the
CROSS-STRAIT TENSIONS: The US company could switch orders from TSMC to alternative suppliers, but that would lower chip quality, CEO Jensen Huang said Nvidia Corp CEO Jensen Huang (黃仁勳), whose products have become the hottest commodity in the technology world, on Wednesday said that the scramble for a limited amount of supply has frustrated some customers and raised tensions. “The demand on it is so great, and everyone wants to be first and everyone wants to be most,” he told the audience at a Goldman Sachs Group Inc technology conference in San Francisco. “We probably have more emotional customers today. Deservedly so. It’s tense. We’re trying to do the best we can.” Huang’s company is experiencing strong demand for its latest generation of chips, called
China has claimed a breakthrough in developing homegrown chipmaking equipment, an important step in overcoming US sanctions designed to thwart Beijing’s semiconductor goals. State-linked organizations are advised to use a new laser-based immersion lithography machine with a resolution of 65 nanometers or better, the Chinese Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (MIIT) said in an announcement this month. Although the note does not specify the supplier, the spec marks a significant step up from the previous most advanced indigenous equipment — developed by Shanghai Micro Electronics Equipment Group Co (SMEE, 上海微電子) — which stood at about 90 nanometers. MIIT’s claimed advances last
GLOBAL ECONOMY: Policymakers have a choice of a small 25 basis-point cut or a bold cut of 50 basis points, which would help the labor market, but might reignite inflation The US Federal Reserve is gearing up to announce its first interest rate cut in more than four years on Wednesday, with policymakers expected to debate how big a move to make less than two months before the US presidential election. Senior officials at the US central bank including Fed Chairman Jerome Powell have in recent weeks indicated that a rate cut is coming this month, as inflation eases toward the bank’s long-term target of two percent, and the labor market continues to cool. The Fed, which has a dual mandate from the US Congress to act independently to ensure