tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-154242642011-04-22T00:33:11.419-04:00A blog devoted to perspective discussions of economic problems, challenges, and opportunities facing the Taiwanese economy.HLnoreply@blogger.comBlogger151100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424264.post-91938755439628089332008-03-03T11:38:00.000-05:002008-03-03T11:40:08.631-05:00

By Hwan C. Lin 林環牆 The Taipei Times, Monday, Mar 03, 2008, Page 8 THE DIRECTORATE GENERAL of Budget, Accounting, and Statistics recently announced that Taiwan's real GDP growth rate reached 6.86 percent in the third quarter of last year and was 6.39 percent in the fourth quarter. This means that the annual economic growth rate increased from 4.89 percent in the previous year to 5.7

HLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424264.post-36674130635423967082007-12-21T20:25:00.000-05:002007-12-21T20:28:25.658-05:00

By Hwan C. Lin, Taipei Times, Dec 22, 2007 The Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics (DGBAS) has announced an economic growth rate of 6.92 percent for the third quarter, up from 5.24 percent for the second quarter. This is 2.45 percentage points higher than the government's forecast of 4.47 percent in August and 1.76 percentage points higher than the average forecast of 5.16

HLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424264.post-6046102027367492007-12-02T10:39:00.000-05:002007-12-02T10:50:06.648-05:00

By Hwan C. Lin 林環牆 The Taipei Times, Nov 26, 2007, Page 8 The actual direction of Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) presidential candidate Frank Hsieh's (謝長廷) "happiness economy" is now clear. Despite the proposal to dynamically manage the cap on China-bound investments, the basic principle is to continue opening up to China. This "new silk road" is similar to the policy of Chinese

HLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424264.post-1140147431804346382006-02-16T22:35:00.000-05:002006-02-16T22:44:55.993-05:00

By Hwan C. Lin, Taipei Times, Feb 11, 2006[Remark: The Hanji version of this op-ed was publishd earlier in Liberty Times (自由時報), Feb 7, 2006. Taipie Times translated it into an English version.]The spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of China's State Council, Li Weiyi (李維一), made a couple of comments regarding President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) "active management, effective opening" policy

HLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424264.post-1138252232936663342006-01-26T00:02:00.000-05:002006-02-16T22:47:58.283-05:00

By Hwan C. Lin, Taipei Times, Jan 09, 2006[Remark: The Hanji version of this op-ed was publishd earlier in Liberty Times, Jan 3, 2006. Upon the author's permission, Taipie Times translated it into an English version.] Given global trade liberalization and competition and the spread of production technologies, such things as wages, land rent, capital interests and profits will necessarily move

HLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424264.post-1125474472445492722005-08-31T03:43:00.000-04:002005-10-03T22:02:13.300-04:00

By Hwan C.Lin, reprint from Taipei Times, June 30, 2005More than a month ago, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (連戰) launched his so-called "ice-breaking tour" of China. Lien met with Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) on April 29 and then issued a joint communique, stressing their desire to establish a "cross-strait common market" and push for across-the-board economic

HLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424264.post-1125474089029088482005-08-31T03:36:00.000-04:002005-10-03T22:02:43.250-04:00

By Hwan C. Lin, reprint from Taipei Times, April 06, 2005The early 1990s ushered in a sea change in the Taiwan Strait. The Taiwan-China relationship finally broke a four-decade-long bilateral embargo and marched into a new era of cross-strait integration. Capital, goods and people move in massive amounts from the nation to the world's largest developing economy.This is a 15-year long experiment

HLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424264.post-1125473706357811122005-08-31T03:31:00.000-04:002005-10-03T22:03:10.083-04:00

By Hwan C. Lin, reprint from Taipei Times, Dec 04, 2002 Over the past decade, Taiwan has undergone a drastic change in its industrial structure, with a fall in its labor-intensive production along side a rise of knowledge- intensive, high-tech industry in the country. Two major forces engendered this change.First, China's low-wage labor along with its open-door policy for international capital

HLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424264.post-1125473387698389612005-08-31T03:26:00.000-04:002005-10-03T22:03:36.436-04:00

By Hwan C. Lin, reprint from Taipei Times, Oct 31, 2002The director of the American Institute in Taiwan, Douglas Paal, made an imprudent comment on Sept. 18 to the American Chamber of Commerce. "If Taiwan continues to view the mainland through the prism of economic threat, it is in danger of isolating itself and getting cut out of tomorrow's deals," he said.Not long afterwards, an article

HLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424264.post-1125473087256712542005-08-31T03:22:00.000-04:002005-10-03T22:04:51.476-04:00

By Hwan C. Lin, reprint from Taipei Times, March 08, 2002The Ministry of Economic Affairs is planning to allow Taiwan's chipmakers to build eight-inch wafer fabs in China. The plan's supporters say it would give Taiwan better market footing and global deployment and that it would free up resources for the development of more advanced 12-inch wafer fabs.In fact, those familiar with

HLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424264.post-1125472894179599712005-08-31T03:17:00.000-04:002005-10-03T22:06:14.116-04:00

By Hwan C. Lin, reprint from Taipei Times, Dec 30, 2001 Taiwan is suffering its worst ever economic recession in 26 years. Its economy shrank 4.21 percent in the third quarter of this year compared with last year. Unemployment swelled to 5.36 percent in October. While the November unemployment rate experienced its first drop in 13 months, easing down to 5.28 percent, it is only a seasonal change

HLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424264.post-1125472576136863202005-08-31T03:12:00.000-04:002005-10-03T22:07:01.090-04:00

By Hwan C. Lin, reprint from Taipei Times, Aug 17, 2000The new government recently unveiled a NT$330 billion policy package aimed at stimulating Taiwan's sagging real estate market. The hope is that a reviving construction industry can serve as a locomotive to pull traditional and basic industries out of their long-term doldrums,thereby gearing up the bearish stock market.The policy package is

HLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424264.post-1125471812342829332005-08-31T02:59:00.000-04:002005-10-03T22:08:59.106-04:00

By Hwan C. Lin, reprint from Taipei Times, Feb 17, 2000KMT presidential candidate Lien Chan announced his science and technology platform on Feb.10, outlining a policy package aimed at raising Taiwan's national research and development (R&D) outlay to 2.5 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) by 2002 and to 3 percent by 2010. He also expressed the hope that TAiwan could catch up with the US

HLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424264.post-1125471490629974022005-08-31T02:53:00.000-04:002005-10-03T22:10:01.930-04:00

By Hwan C. Lin, reprint from Taipei Times, Dec 17, 1999The recent trade talks in Seattle invited violent rallies against the World Trade Organization (WTO) and, unsurprisingly, ended in complete failure on Dec. 3. Unfortunately, the media has not provided a fairer view of the WTO (formerly called GATT), which had largely been successful in dismantling tariff barriers to international trade in

HLnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-15424264.post-1125470922375361772005-08-31T02:44:00.000-04:002005-10-03T22:10:59.573-04:00

By Hwan C. Lin, reprint from Taipei Times, Nov 18, 1999China's sheer size in territory and population has often misled many in coping with the cross-strait ties.Many Taiwanese businessmen are intoxicated with the seemingly "huge" Chinese market; so are politicians from the ruling and opposition parties. One dangerous illusion they harbor in common is that Taiwan's economic prosperity cannot

HLnoreply@blogger.com0