The Cabinet yesterday extended its “Invest in Taiwan” initiative for three years, adding more funding and requirements to meet the government’s 2050 net-zero carbon emissions goals.
The extension of the repatriation program came amid persistent demand from Taiwanese businesses and an anticipated wave of reshoring due to changes in China’s business environment, Executive Yuan spokesman Lo Ping-cheng (羅秉成) told a news conference in Taipei after a weekly Cabinet meeting.
The initiative, which began in July 2019 and is due to expire at the end of next week, provides favorable loan terms, and assistance in accessing land, utilities and talent to firms seeking to move production to Taiwan or expand their local operations.
Photo courtesy of the Executive Yuan
As of Friday last week, the government had approved 1,109 applications from Taiwanese businesses to invest a combined NT$1.55 trillion (US$55.78 billion) under the initiative, the InvesTaiwan Service Center said last week, adding that the investment pledges are estimated to create 123,425 jobs.
With the initiative extended through 2024, the government plans to provide an additional NT$430 billion in financing for participating firms, which is expected to attract NT$900 billion in investment and create 40,000 jobs, Lo said.
As there is still NT$60 billion in unused financing for the current program, the available loans for participating firms would be NT$490 billion, Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs Tseng Wen-sheng (曾文生) said.
The government would review the size of financing on a rolling basis and adjust the loan amount as needed, Tseng said.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs said that the initiative would still provide firms with preferential loans, but it would make minor adjustments to interest-rate subsidies and the duration of the benefits for different programs.
As for the net-zero carbon emissions requirement, Tseng said that participating firms would be reviewed based on their plans to use green energy, or energy-saving or low-carbon emissions equipment; implement heat recovery or circulation; construct green buildings; and enact projects that contribute to the government’s net-zero carbon emissions goal.
InvesTaiwan Service Center chief executive Emile Chang (張銘斌) said that the government would set separate requirements for large, small and medium-sized enterprises to implement energy saving and carbon reduction programs, rather than a uniform standard.
As a result, applicants for the initiative would be reviewed on a case-by-case basis on this front, Chang said.
The announcement came after Chinese authorities last month hit Taiwanese conglomerate Far Eastern Group (遠東集團) with hefty fines for allegedly contravening regulations on environmental protection, land use, employee health, safety, taxes and product quality, while state-backed Chinese media reported that the fines were connected to Far Eastern’s role as one of the biggest donors to President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) Democratic Progressive Party.
Many Taiwanese businesses have already exited China amid US-China trade tensions, but the Far Eastern incident, coupled with China’s stricter environmental protection and carbon reduction rules, have prompted more to participate in the government’s initiative, Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua (王美花) said late last month.
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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