AmCham urges action on energy supply, talent shortage in Taiwan White Paper

AmCham urges action on energy supply, talent shortage in Taiwan White Paper

2023-06-07

The American Chamber of Commerce in Taiwan has released its annual Taiwan White Paper. The paper calls for government action to ensure a stable energy supply and support talent retention. AmCham emphasized that Taiwan was currently a global focal point, enjoying unprecedented support and goodwill. It urged the government to take advantage of the spotlight, by improving its business climate to encourage investment.

The American Chamber of Commerce in Taiwan has released its 2023 Taiwan White Paper, a summary of its members’ recommendations for Taiwan’s business environment. Under the title “No Time to Waste,” the paper states that Taiwan currently has the world’s attention. It says that, in the face of geopolitical uncertainties, Taiwan should act urgently to take advantage of its spotlight.

Amy Chang
AmCham Taiwan president
This is the time that we really need to work on how to make Taiwan a better place for investment. National security issues, and I think in our case, economic resilience is the best way to protect Taiwan.

The initial agreement of the U.S.-Taiwan 21st Century Trade Initiative was signed last week, marking an important milestone for the two nations. AmCham urged the two sides to progress to a comprehensive bilateral trade agreement. According to an AmCham survey, 88% of member companies plan to maintain or expand investment in Taiwan. But members also expressed concerns over Taiwan’s talent shortage and electricity supply.

Vincent Shih
AmCham Taiwan chairperson
More investment and more economic activities, and that’s why we need more energy. Sustainability and competitive-priced energy is vital to Taiwan’s economic growth. Taiwan’s energy transformation progress may have fallen behind schedule.

According to AmCham, 102 issues were raised in its 2022 Taiwan White Paper, and only eight were fully resolved. AmCham said it looked forward to deepening dialogue with the government this year. Besides presenting its white paper to the National Development Council, AmCham plans to meet all three 2024 presidential candidates to raise its recommendations, to create a friendlier business climate and encourage deeper foreign investment in Taiwan.

台灣美國商會發表白皮書期待吸引外商深耕

2023-06-07

台灣美國商會發表"2023台灣白皮書"，今年聚焦能源供應、缺工和數位化等議題。商會強調，台灣目前是全球關注焦點，有許多支持和善意，應該利用機會，打造友善商業環境，吸引外商深耕台灣。

台灣美國商會發表"2023台灣白皮書"，彙整外商對國內商業環境的建議，今年以"沒有時間可以浪費"為題，強調台灣正獲得來自全球前所未有得關注，雖然地緣政治引起部分擔憂，但危機也能創造機會。

[[台灣美國商會執行長張韶韵]]
“把台灣打造成更好的投資環境，現在正是時候，雖然正面臨國防議題，但我覺得經濟韌性，是保護台灣的最好方法。”

台美21世紀貿易倡議首批協定完成簽署，是台美兩國重要里程碑，商會期待未來能往雙邊貿易協定和自由貿易協定推進。根據調查，有88%受訪企業計畫投資台灣，但對於缺工、穩定供電議題有疑慮。

[[台灣美國商會會長施立成]]
“更多投資會有更多經濟活動，所以我們需要更多能源。永續性和有競爭力的電價，對台灣經濟成長來說，能源相當關鍵，台灣能源轉型時程落後。”

去年商會提出102項建議，只有8項獲得解決，美國商會期望與政府有更多溝通。今年除了將白皮書，交給國發會主委龔明鑫，也計畫與各政黨總統候選人見面，提出相關建言，期待打造一個更友善的投資環境，讓外商持續深耕台灣。

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AIT chair Laura Rosenberger visits Legislative Yuan

AIT Chair Laura Rosenberger is visiting Taiwan for the second time in two months. On Wednesday she met Legislative speaker You Si-kun and a lawmaker from each of the legislature’s four political parties. Afterward, DPP lawmaker Tsai Shih-ying relayed the message that Washington would continue to support Taiwan’s government, no matter who wins the 2024 presidential election. In the days to come, Rosenberger is expected to meet with each of Taiwan’s three presidential candidates.

AIT Chair Laura Rosenberger touched down in Taiwan on Monday for a six-day visit. On Wednesday morning, she met Legislative Speaker You Si-kun and representatives from all parties in the legislature.

Tsai Shih-ying
DPP lawmaker
She’s visiting to hear the diverse voices of Taiwan. She chatted very happily with all four parties today. No matter what comes in the future, Taiwan and the U.S. have a long-standing alliance. We’re allies. The U.S. government has also said that it will continue supporting Taiwan’s government no matter who wins the election. The candidates in the 2024 presidential election all have different platforms and opinions. She will meet with each of them separately.

This is Rosenberger’s second visit in two months. Her main purpose is to engage with Taiwan’s three presidential candidates. Sources say she’ll meet the DPP’s Lai Ching-te on Thursday and Ko Wen-je of the Taiwan People’s Party on Friday. It’s not yet known when she will meet the KMT’s Hou Yu-ih.

Tseng Ming-chung
KMT lawmaker
From what I know, arrangements are being made. They’re being made for all three candidates.

Tsai Shih-ying
DPP lawmaker
I think her visit will be very fruitful and will give the U.S. a better understanding of Taiwan’s presidential candidates, their policy proposals, and their views on diplomacy and national defense.

Critics have viewed Rosenberger’s meetings as a “prescreening” for the three candidates. Of the three, Hou is the only one to have never visited the U.S., and is said to be the least familiar with Washington.

Tseng Ming-chung
KMT lawmaker
Who says he’s not familiar? As mayor of the R.O.C.’s largest city, he’s been involved in a great deal of city-to-city diplomacy. He has engaged frequently with the AIT and ambassadors from every country, conducting city-to-city exchanges. I don’t think there should be any problem regarding his familiarity.

KMT lawmaker Tseng Ming-chung defended Hou’s credentials. With the election approaching, each candidate’s stance on China and U.S. relations is under heightened scrutiny.

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Ko visits Japan Institute for National Fundamentals

Meanwhile, Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Ko Wen-je is in Japan, where he’s paying calls in his capacity as a presidential candidate. Since arriving last Sunday, he’s met with officials including members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, as well as Taiwanese business interests. On Wednesday, he stopped by a right-wing think tank to discuss the strategic partnership between Taiwan and Japan.

Speaking on the Taiwan-Japan relationship, Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Ko Wen-je is at the Japan Institute for National Fundamentals.

Pi Hsiang
FTV reporter
During his fourth day in Japan, Ko Wen-je visited the Japan Institute for National Fundamentals, a right-wing think tank. There he brought up strategic issues such as the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue for the first time.

Ko Wen-je
TPP presidential candidate
A problem for Taiwan is a problem for Japan has become a mantra. Why so? It’s because about 97% of Japan’s energy resources pass through seas near Taiwan. For them, a Taiwan crisis is a very concerning issue.

Sakurai Yoshiko
Japan Institute for National Fundamentals
Taiwan’s fate is intertwined with Japan’s fate, and the world’s fate.

Ko is fresh off an online spat with Washington-based think tank scholar Bonnie Glaser. He had interpreted a remark made by Glaser as an endorsement of him as a presidential candidate. In response, Glaser said Ko “deliberately distorted” her words.

Ko Wen-je
TPP presidential candidate
She shouldn’t be the one getting upset. She’s the one who brought me up. If she hadn’t mentioned me, who would care about her? How important does she think she is?

Ko also addressed a blunder he made the day before. In a meeting with the Shikokai faction led by former Prime Minister Aso Taro, he mistakenly referred to it as the “Abe faction,” prompting widespread criticism.

Ko Wen-je
TPP presidential candidate
They are all from the Liberal Democratic Party. I misspoke. It’s the Shikokai faction within the LDP. But their relationship with Abe is quite good.

With every step and misstep in Japan, Ko is continuing to make headlines back home.

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Taitung fishermen face decimated catch, call for downgrade to dolphin conservation

Fishermen in Taitung are calling for protection for dolphins to be relaxed, as the marine mammals decimate their tuna catch. Fishermen at Hsin-kang Fishing Harbor in Taitung’s Chenggong Township often pull their lines up to find nothing but fish heads left. Dolphins come by the boat and eat the fish before the fishers get a chance. The struggle between dolphins and humans is leading local fishermen’s representatives to argue that more priority should be put on local people’s livelihoods, and less on protecting marine biology.

Two black skipjack tuna heads lie on the deck. The rest of the fish was eaten by dolphins. Fisherman Cheng Kuo-ching often faces this sad sight of just fish heads left from his catch. Locals call him the “Fish Head Boat Master.” His blood boils just to think about dolphins.

Cheng Kuo-ching
Fishing boat master
They’re pirates! We all call them that. And it does no good to catch them.

Fisherman
Yeah, yeah! They all eat the black skipjack. They eat them in the sea – what good would it do to catch them?

These fishermen go out to sea to catch tuna in the high season, but often come back with nothing but the heads. Dolphins are good at helping themselves to the spoils of a bountiful catch.

Cheng Kuo-ching
Fishing boat master
When you pull them to shore, the dolphins start eating the fish, chasing the boat. Sometimes we’re about to pull the tuna onboard and we have to fight with the dolphins. They swim right underneath the boat to eat the fish.

A fisherman coils a long fishing line into a bucket.

Most Taiwanese fishers use the longlining method to catch black skipjack. The line is lowered to a certain depth, using squid for bait, and then let out farther and farther – sometimes as long as 50 kilometers. It’s a relatively ecofriendly fishing technique.

But the tuna caught on the line frequently become a feast for dolphins, before fishermen can reel them in.

Luo Jen-tse
Whale-watching boat master
The dolphins know where the hook is. They know it’s in the fish head, the mouth. So they start eating them from the tail up, and just leave the head on the hook.

Chen Chun-ming
Hsin-kang Fishing Harbor Fishermen’s Association
The conservation of dolphins is quite good right now, even rather excessive. Fishermen want dolphins to be downgraded or something like that, to help fishers have a slightly better life.

Dolphins need protecting, but fishermen say they need protection too. Striking the right balance between ecological conservation and protecting people’s livelihoods is a real dilemma for lawmakers.

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Malaysian photographer captures Taiwan’s scenery with time-lapse photography

An immersive time-lapse photography exhibition has opened in Taipei, with the works of Malaysian photographer Phong Yap Hui. Viewers can see the red sun rise with an unnatural speed over Hehuan Mountain in Nantou, or see the snow flutter over Yushan, Taiwan’s highest peak. Putting this exhibition together took Phong seven years of traveling across Taiwan to capture the beauty of the island. FTV reporter Stephany Yang takes us in for a look.

Malaysian photographer Phong Yap Hui spent seven years traveling all over Taiwan to shoot these time-lapse images. Altogether he traveled 100,000 kilometers. The time-lapse videos are not only displayed on the four walls, but also on the floor of the exhibition hall.

The music playing in the background was produced by Taiwanese music group "One Song Orchestra." The exhibition room is filled with 24 speakers, giving visitors an immersive experience.

Phong traveled up mountains, crossed seas, and even visited Taiwan’s outlying islands. In addition to famous landmarks such as the quaint town of Jiufen, Jingzijiao Tile-paved Salt Fields, Paiyun Lodge skyscraper, Taipei 101, there are also some hidden gems, such as Jiaming Lake in Taitung, Hehuan Mountain, and red maple viewing spots in Nantou.His works are now on display at an exhibition called, "Amazing Formosa A Time-Lapse Visual Journal of Taiwan."

Stan Shih
Founder of Acer
After I retired, I was preoccupied with promoting culture and art. Our Taiwan market is relatively small, but we can find ways to expand it globally with technology.

Phong uses the latest technology for time-lapse photography, using a display resolution with a width of approximately 8,000 pixels, a technology that’s known as 8K. And his exhibition is being held in Taiwan’s first immersive stadium to use 5G technology.

Shih Che
Minister of Culture
Combining technology and culture is the best way for Taiwan to bring its culture to the world. We are already a leader in technology. Technology is the fastest way to let the world know about Taiwanese culture.

Organizers hope to use Taiwan’s tech prowess to introduce Taiwan’s beauty and culture to the world. The exhibition will be held in Taipei 101 till July 9.

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Hsinchu junior high swim star with hearing aid wins the President’s Educational Award

A Hsinchu junior high student has won the President’s Educational Award for her commitment to her studies and to competitive swimming. Lee Yi-ling was born hard of hearing and learned to talk with intensive speech therapy. Now the eighth-grader is shining on the school swim team. Her family says that her dedication to the sport is inspired by veteran Olympian Tsai Shu-min.

At the side of the pool, Lee Yi-ling takes off her hearing aid and puts in special earphones. The eighth-grader was born hard of hearing. She’s an unstoppable force of nature in the water, and now a recipient of the President’s Educational Award.

After training, she goes back to class, where’s she just as single-minded at her books.

Lee Yi-ling
School student and swimmer
I usually get up at 5 a.m., and it takes about 30 minutes to get here. First I warm up and then I change into my swimsuit and get in the pool.

Swim coach
Chien Kung Senior High School
She has some weaknesses in some areas, so we in the swim team tried using earphones, and then specially-made earphones, so that she could hear us in the water.

Lee’s natural gift for swimming is being honed by her early-morning training regimen, as well as the many years of experience of her swim team and coach. But the biggest encouragement comes from the example of another teenage girl and her triumphs more than 20 years ago.

Father of Lee Yi-ling
There was a student swimmer, called Tsai Shu-min, who won gold in the Asian Games. So when Yi-ling is training at the swimming school, that inspires her motivation to keep climbing.

Mother of Lee Yi-ling
He taught us how to help Yi-ling to practice speaking at home. And then she could really start spoken language therapy properly when we had the chance to go to the foundation and arrange classes for her.

Alongside practicing pronunciation at home, Yi-ling’s father used to take her into Taipei for speech therapy twice a week. Through years of hard work, and thanks to the dedicated support of her family and friends, Yi-ling has found a sport where she can shine.

2023-06-07

Mom dedicates life to autism education, founds Asperger’s Syndrome Association

Today we meet a new immigrant who has spent almost 30 years supporting families with life with autism. Chen Hsi-chen came to Taiwan from China’s Sichuan province. Her daughter was just 5 years old when she was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder. At first, Chen was devastated, but over the years the family has found ways to live happily with the condition. Chen founded the Asperger Syndrome Association to support others on similar journeys, and now she tours the country providing education and training to parents.

Chen Hsi-chen came to Taiwan many years ago for marriage. But when her first child was still just a baby, her husband died suddenly of heart disease, leaving her with no family nearby to turn to. Before long, Chen realized her daughter had delayed speech development and emotional difficulties. Eventually, her daughter was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder.

Chen Hsi-chen
Chinese immigrant
When she was very small, she had no language at all. When she was two or three, she wouldn’t say “mommy.” She would hit herself and have big emotions – perhaps she wanted to express something, but we didn’t understand.

Chen has been at her daughter’s side ever since. And from those early days of nonspeaking, her daughter has gradually developed more and more social skills. As Chen quickly realized, there are many families living with autism, and she found lots of encouragement from other parents. She founded the Asperger Syndrome Association, helping other families through the panic that can follow a diagnosis.

Rather than bemoaning her lot, Chen discovered within herself more and more energy, not only for parenting, but also to support more and more families on their journey.

Chen Hsi-chen
Chinese immigrant
I’ve been here for 28 years, so lots of people have helped me. When we have the capacity to help others, I think in the years I have left to me I want to do more to give back to society. We are the mothers of Taiwan’s children, we are the daughters-in-law of Taiwan, so we play our part, and reduce a little bit of the discrimination that we receive as new immigrants.

As Chen looks back on her work, she says that raising a child with autism means a lifetime of learning and care. She hopes that more families will join in her efforts to come together and support the families who need it most, creating a social safety net where nobody drops through the cracks.

This story was provided by the program "We Are Family"
Funded by New Immigrant Development Fund

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