Taiwan has to cooperate with other countries in establishing a resilient and secure global supply chain in the face of authoritarian expansion, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said at the Asia Taiwanese Chambers of Commerce’s meeting of directors and supervisors yesterday.
Taiwan should “reach out to the world and become a key force in the global economy” as Asia-Pacific is the future economic center of the world, Tsai told the organization comprising of Taiwanese businesspeople based overseas.
Taiwanese industries should grasp development trends in the world and “shine brightly on the global stage,” she said.
Photo: CNA
The government has been actively promoting the New Southbound Policy in the past few years, which has provided some results, she said, citing the record trade volume of US$180.3 billion between Taiwan and New Southbound Policy’s target countries last year.
The government allocated a budget of NT$31.7 billion (US$1.02 billion) for three years to help small and medium-sized enterprises recover from the COVID-19 pandemic and strengthen Taiwan’s economic and social resilience, she said.
It also helped enhance the competitiveness of Taiwanese businesses through net zero carbon emission and digital transition, she said.
The establishment of 11 semiconductor colleges and research institutes in key national fields can help cultivate high-level talents to drive industrial progress and to attract students from all over the world to study in Taiwan, she said.
The government is also planning to launch the Talent Taiwan program, which is a one-stop service center to recruit international talent, she said.
Tsai thanked Taiwanese businesspeople based overseas for promoting diplomacy and their care for Taiwan’s industrial development.
She encouraged them to continue deepening the economic and trade links between Taiwan and Indo-Pacific countries and contributing to regional economic development.
Premier Chen Chien-jen (陳建仁) said that in response to the concerns raised by Taiwanese businesspeople based overseas when they visited Cabinet in April, the government expanded employment incentives and launched industry-academia collaboration programs to help fill shortages in the workforce.
Chen encouraged domestic and overseas Taiwanese businesses to promote the green transition of the industry to tackle the challenges posed by climate change.
He thanked Taiwanese businesspeople based overseas for advocating for Taiwan’s participation in the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, the WHO and the World Health Assembly.
Overseas Community Affairs Council Minister Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) said that number of overseas Taiwanese students who returned to Taiwan to study from Indonesia, Vietnam, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Thailand increased this year.
The council is to continue to work with overseas Taiwanese businesspeople to attract, nurture and retain overseas Taiwanese talents, she said.
Seven of the 17 NT$10 million (US$311,604) winning receipts from the November-December uniform invoice lottery remain unclaimed as of today, the Ministry of Finance said, urging winners to redeem their prizes by May 5. The reminder comes ahead of the release of the winning numbers for the January-February lottery tomorrow. Among the unclaimed receipts was one for a NT$173 phone bill in Keelung, while others were for a NT$5,913 purchase at Costco in Taipei's Neihu District (內湖), a NT$49 purchase at a FamilyMart in New Taipei City's Tamsui District (淡水), and a NT$500 purchase at a tea shop in New Taipei City's
Taiwanese officials were shown the first of 66 F-16V fighter jets purchased by Taiwan from the United States, the Ministry of National Defense said yesterday, adding the aircraft has completed an initial flight test and is expected to be delivered later this year. A delegation led by Deputy Minister of National Defense Hsu Szu-chien (徐斯儉) visited Lockheed Martin’s F-16 C/D Block 70 (also known as F-16V) assembly line in South Carolina on March 16 to view the aircraft. The jet will undergo a final acceptance flight in the US before being delivered to Taiwan, the
Deliveries of delayed F-16V jets are expected to begin in September, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said today, after senior defense officials visited the US last week. The US in 2019 approved a US$8 billion sale of Lockheed Martin F-16 jets to Taiwan, a deal that would take the nation’s F-16 fleet to more than 200 jets, but the project has been hit by issues including software problems. Koo appeared today before a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee, which is discussing different versions of the special defense budget this week. The committee is questioning officials today,
TALENT SCOUTING: The university is investing substantial funds in its future to bring in the kind of researchers that would keep the college internationally competitive National Taiwan University (NTU) plans to invest NT$2 billion (US$62.6 million) to launch two programs aimed at attracting and retaining top research talent, university president Chen Wen-chang (陳文章) said yesterday. The funding would support the “Palm Grove Scholars Project,” which targets academics aged 40 to 55. Up to 20 scholars would be selected, each receiving as much as NT$10 million annually, Chen said. The initiative is designed to attract leading researchers to Taiwan and strengthen NTU’s global competitiveness by fostering a more research-friendly environment and expanding international collaboration, he said. NTU is also introducing a “Hong Hu” chair grant, which would provide Palm