Taiwan pro-China party holds edge in mayoral races
TAIPEI, Nov 27 (Reuters) – Taiwan’s China-friendly ruling party held onto most of the island’s mayoral posts up for grabs in tense elections on Saturday seen as a test of the party’s popularity ahead of the 2012 presidential race.
Wins in three of five mayoral seats gave the Nationalist Party, or KMT, a clear shot at retaining the presidency, which will calm Beijing as it has worked closely with the party on landmark trade deals after decades of political hostilities.
China has claimed sovereignty over self-ruled Taiwan for six decades but since 2008 has discussed economic issues with President Ma Ying-jeou’s government. Beijing hopes those talks will lead eventually to political unification.
“Of course China doesn’t want to see any change in the status quo, particularly in the three cities that the KMT has held for a long time,” said Shane Lee, political scientist at Chang Jung University in Taiwan.
The KMT won second four-year terms in Taipei and Sinbei, the island’s two largest cities, and in the central city of Taichung. The anti-China opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) held the southern cities of Kaohsiung and Tainan.
Taiwan financial markets will at least remain stable and may gain on the KMT’s victories as the results herald more tie-ups between export-reliant Taiwan and economic powerhouse China.
Investors had feared that a DPP win could extend to the presidency and threaten trade deals. China and Taiwan are due to talk next year about new import tariff cuts following an economic cooperation framework (ECFA) signed in mid-2010.
China turns up heat on Taiwan to talk politics
TAIPEI (Reuters) – Chinese officials are mounting pressure on Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou to move toward political agreements as he shrugs them off despite a recent easing of tension after decades of hostility, analysts say.
Beijing’s growing impatience, though seldom expressed openly, could set back trade, transit and economic cooperation deals for which Taiwan has looked to Beijing since 2008 for help in advancing its $416 billion economy.
“There’s definitely a sense of urgency to get this thing going,” said Raymond Wu, managing director of Taipei-based political risk consultancy e-telligence.
In August, China’s second most senior negotiator on Taiwan affairs, Li Yafei, hinted on a visit to the island that Beijing had softened a tough condition for political talks.
Beijing normally insists that Taiwan renounce any ambitions of de jure independence from China.
On October 13, China offered to discuss super-sensitive military issues to ease six decades of war preparations across the 160 km-wide (100 mile-wide) Taiwan Strait but was met with a cold reception from Taiwan.
Beijing’s latest five-year plan calls for the pursuit of a “peaceful development framework,” new language that implies putting the future of relations into a guiding document.
Travel Postcard: 48 hours in Taipei
TAIPEI (Reuters Life!) – Taipei, once a litter-strewn, concrete shantytown, has become a crowded but convenient mix of museums, monuments and high-end eateries from the world’s second tallest building to the scenic slopes of an urban mountain range.
Reuters correspondents with local knowledge help visitors get the most from a short stay:
FRIDAY
6 p.m. – Start at the top. Around dusk, the world’s second tallest building, Taipei 101, offers sunset views that take in an urban area of nearly 6 million people, three rivers and mountains on four sides. Admission to the 89th floor observation deck is T$350 ($10.93) per adult.
8 p.m. – Restaurants and coffee shops dominate the veranda-like fourth floor of Taipei 101. Prominent ones include Hwa Young Boutique Cuisine and the Wasabi Buffet & Dining Bar. Sit outside and watch Taipei’s modern elite walk by.
10 p.m. – Tip a few back at a full-service bar, sometimes with featured micro-brews, at the Cosmopolitan Steak & Grill outside the skyscraper on Songren Road.
Taiwan president protests ejected Asian Games athlete
TAIPEI (Reuters) – Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou stepped into the emotional fracas of a disqualified Asian Games athlete on Thursday, demanding that the event organisers re-examine her case and offer a better explanation.
As Taiwan’s public has put their hopes on Taiwan taekwondo competitor Yang Shu-chun, the government is asking event authorities in China to dig deeper into her disqualification on Wednesday over unauthorised footgear.
“Taiwan’s public cannot accept this,” presidential office spokesman Lo Chih-chiang said. “The president is asking the cabinet and the sports commission to stick up for her rights. We hope they can re-evaluate the case and offer better reasoning.”
Ma’s demand follows angry protests from Taiwan’s team officials and a sit-down protest by the tearful Yang, who refused the leave the arena.
Yang had almost defeated Vietnamese Thi Hau Vu in a women’s 49-kg category when match officials halted the bout a few seconds from the end after deciding her footguards carried unauthorised extra electronic sensors behind the heel.
Competitors must wear protective gear and gain points by attacking the body and face or knocking down one another, with the sensors helping ascertain the successful scoring of points.
But the World Taekwondo Federation is considering whether to impose sanctions on the Olympic semi-finalist and her coach.
Taiwan speeds up green laws to compete in Asia
TAIPEI, Nov 18 (Reuters) – A wave of environmental protests in Taiwan, sometimes pitting demonstrators against police, has pushed the government to speed up new green rules to protect the environment without harming economic growth.
Economists say the stricter rules will ultimately raise the competitiveness of the $416-billion economy against greener Asian rivals and boost its corporate image among eco-conscious Western consumers.
“People realise the short-term interests from economic development, but worry long term about environmental protection, so we need to attain a balance,” Taiwan Environmental Protection Administration chief Stephen Shen told Reuters.
The island industrialised in the 1980s with little public protest to become one of Asia’s four economic dragons. Now, it is working on more transparent environmental reviews for new projects and tougher energy laws, including a tax regime and carbon reduction targets for 2020, 2025 and possibly 2050.
(For a related factbox, see [ID:nTOE68K04A])
Officials also want to phase out traditional polluting industries and join international carbon trading schemes.
Government action follows a spate of protests, including an 8,000-strong rally over the weekend denouncing a planned 300,000 barrels-per-day oil refinery complex on Taiwan’s west coast that could foul the air and hurt local dolphins.
Taiwan cbank: Exporters quoting prices of T$30
TAIPEI, Nov 18 (Reuters) – Taiwan’s exporters are selling the Taiwan dollar at quoted prices stronger than T$30 and will suffer if the local currency rises further, the central bank said in remarks to legislators on Thursday.
Analysts expect the Taiwan dollar TWD=TP to trade around that level through the end of the year due to monetary easing in the United States that some say has begun flooding emerging markets with money.
But the central bank’s statement does not necessarily herald more capital controls, strategists say.
Major exporters, especially the island’s hallmark tech products, in trade-reliant Taiwan have complained that a surge in the Taiwan dollar since late September has hurt profits. It rose about 3 percent on anticipation of U.S. monetary easing.
“If the Taiwan dollar breaks through T$30, we will find it very difficult to do business,” said Lin Shing-san, vice chairman of the Evergreen Group, which includes the world’s No.4 container shipping line, Evergreen Marine (2603.TW: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), and Taiwan’s No.2 airlines, Eva Airways (2618.TW: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).
Small and medium-sized exporters will take a big hit while larger firms can do more of their business in U.S. dollars, said Rock Hsu, honourary chairman of the Taiwan Electrical & Electronic Manufacturers’ Association.
Hsu is also chairman of Compal Electronics (2324.TW: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), the world’s No.2 contract l7aptop PC maker.
Taiwan prays for redemption from “Life of Pi” movie
About the only thing Taiwanese in Yann Martel’s cultish epic novel “Life of Pi” is the captain of the ship that sinks, yet celebrated director Ang Lee has chosen Taiwan as the place to make a 3D film version of the award-winning book.
Much like the novel’s hero, a boy named Pi, Taiwan has something of a second chance at making itself shine after years of diplomatic isolation that has kept its global economic competitiveness clinging to a life vest. It gets that chance when audiences see the movie, now scheduled for release in 2012. But Taiwan has a long way to go as China has stolen its spotlight with a rapid economic ascent since the 1990s. For long-standing political reasons, Beijing actively squelches its offshore neighbor’s international profile.
In the book, a freighter taking Indian boy Piscine Molitor “Pi” Patel, his family and a zoo of wild animals sinks while steaming from India across the Pacific Ocean to North America. Pi is left stranded on a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger. He and the tiger survive 227 days at sea despite a natural distrust of each other as the boy gives the animal its space along with a sense of who’s boss.
About three quarters of the film will be shot on the beaches of Taiwan’s south coast and at a new studio fashioned from an old airport in the central Taiwan city Taichung, a publicist for 20th Century Fox Taiwan said. The other 25 percent takes place in India, and 17-year-old Indian-born actor Suraj Sharma, who was chosen from 3,000 applicants, will play Pi.
Lee, best known for “Brokeback Mountain” and “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” last shot a film in Taiwan in 1994 with “Eat Drink Man Woman.” He chose the island this time as a “beautiful place for the story,” the publicist said.
Still, things could go wrong for Lee (and Taiwan), the director hinted to reporters at a recent news conference. That’s because filming includes what Lee called three of the most unpredictable elements in making a movie: water, children and animals.
“I hope this will be a breakthrough,” the director said. “We have been through some struggles but we still have a long way ahead…I hope everyone enjoys the process.”
Key political risks to watch in Taiwan
TAIPEI, Nov 1 (Reuters) – The threat of military conflict between Taipei and Beijing has faded, raising the appeal of Taiwan for foreign investors, but sudden policy shifts and new upsets over China could cool the investment climate.
Following is a summary of key risks to watch in Taiwan:
INTEREST RATE POLICY AND CAPITAL CONTROLS
Taiwan’s central bank raised interest rates in September for the second time since February 2009 [ID:nTOE68T09L] and is expected to hike them 12.5 to 25 basis points each quarter through the end of 2011.
However, some analysts say a severe enough slowdown in the United States, Taiwan’s second biggest single-country export market after China, could force a pause in those hikes for a quarter or two. The previous interest rate, a record low 1.25 percent, was an emergency measure to fight the economic downturn.
The rate hikes signal that Taiwan authorities believe their $414 billion export-reliant economy is gathering steam despite sluggish CPI [ID:nTOE69405Z] and stubborn unemployment that remains at an unusually high 5.08 percent. [ID:nTPV002084]
Recent rate hikes also seek to stop fast-rising property prices in Taipei from becoming an asset bubble.
Key political risks to watch in Taiwan
TAIPEI, Oct 1 (Reuters) – The threat of military conflict between Taipei and Beijing has faded, raising the appeal of Taiwan for foreign investors, but sudden policy shifts and fractious local politics could cool the investment climate.
Following is a summary of key Taiwan risks to watch:
* INTEREST RATE POLICY AND CAPITAL CONTROLS
Taiwan’s central bank raised interest rates in June for the first time since the crisis, and again on September 30. It is expected to hike them 12.5 to 25 basis points each quarter through to end-2011 [ID:nSGE65N0D0]. However, some analysts say a severe enough slowdown in the U.S. economy could pause those hikes for a quarter or two.
The hikes signal that Taiwan authorities believe the $414 billion export-reliant island economy is gathering steam despite sluggish CPI [ID:nTOE63602D] and stubborn unemployment that remains at an unusually high 5.11 percent [ID:nTPV001880]. Forecast-beating GDP growth [ID:nTOE67F07A] showed that the monetary authority’s plan is on track.
The central bank also remains wary of “hot money” inflows that have buoyed Asian asset prices. Some of this money has already departed: Foreign funds sold a net $4 billion of Taiwan stocks .TWII in May and another net $1.25 billion in August due to risk aversion driven first by the euro zone debt crisis and later fears of a double-dip recession in the United States.
The interventionist central bank moves almost daily to stop speculation in the island’s currency market, dealers in Taipei believe. Earlier this year it warned local and foreign banks to follow regulations when trading foreign exchange forward contracts, another move to discourage hot money [ID:nTOE60L08O].
Key political risks to watch in Taiwan
TAIPEI, Sept 5 (Reuters) – The threat of military conflict between Taipei and Beijing has faded, raising the appeal of Taiwan for foreign investors, but sudden policy shifts and fractious local politics could cool the investment climate.
Following is a summary of key Taiwan risks to watch:
* INTEREST RATE POLICY AND CAPITAL CONTROLS
Taiwan’s central bank raised interest rates in June for the first time since the crisis, and is expected to hike them 12.5 to 25 basis points each quarter through to end-2011 [ID:nSGE65N0D0]. However, some analysts say a severe enough slowdown in the U.S. economy could pause those hikes for a quarter or two.
The hikes signal that Taiwan authorities believe the $414 billion export-reliant island economy is gathering steam despite sluggish CPI [ID:nTOE63602D] and stubborn unemployment that remains at an unusually high 5.17 percent [ID:nTPV001880]. Forecast-beating GDP growth [ID:nTOE67F07A] gave support to this view.
The central bank also remains wary of “hot money” inflows that have buoyed Asian asset prices. Some of this money has already departed: Foreign funds sold a net $4 billion of Taiwan stocks .TWII in May and another net $1.25 billion in August due to risk aversion driven first by the euro zone debt crisis and later fears of a double-dip recession in the United States.
The interventionist central bank moves almost daily to stop speculation in the island’s currency market, dealers in Taipei believe. Earlier this year it warned local and foreign banks to follow regulations when trading foreign exchange forward contracts, another move to discourage hot money [ID:nTOE60L08O].
-
Follow Ralph
