Yesterday the stock market fell another 300 points off its high to well under 7000. Ma save us! Meanwhile the tourism industry here continues to be skeptical, according to the latest foreign media reports, as Beijing hangs Ma out to dry again. The relevant portion of Kyodo News' Max Hirsch's latest piece on the tourism industry here....Eager to convenience incoming mainland tourists, Taiwan has implemented currency covertibility between the RMB and New Taiwan Dollar. To that end, the bank has ordered tens of millions of RMB from HSBC and the Bank of America in Hong Kong since June 11 to stock currency exchange counters island-wide.
But with Beijing declining to sell to Taipei RMB, Chen's bank has little choice to go through Hong Kong banks and impose a limit of RMB 20,000 (US$2,580) per transaction.
''China won't provide a steady, official source of RMB,'' she says. ''So, we need to take it slow at first.''
Banks like hers, she adds, are waiting for more mainland visitors to come and increase the flow of RMB onto the island. Ma has said he envisions allowing in up to 10,000 mainland visitors daily by next year -- a figure that some economists claim could contribute 1.5 percent to the island's annual gross domestic product.
Ma's current cap of 3,000 Chinese tourists daily is expected to contribute less than one-fourth of a percentage point to GDP growth, while Beijing is reportedly balking on that cap and allowing just 1,000 of its nationals to visit the island daily -- another reason for Sun Moon Lake's tourism industry's less-than-electric mood.
"Beijing is reportedly balking..." and offering only 1,000 tourists a day. And not selling Taiwan RMB. Funny, isn't it? All they had to do is give Ma what he wants.... in fact credible whispering birdies have whispered that Beijing thinks it is the one making all the sacrifices. There's a simmering conflict here that sooner or later has to turn hot....
Despite all the "warming" ties, IHT reports that the Taiwan military is continuing to hold war games aimed at China:
As part of Ma's program, the two sides launched regular weekend air services earlier this month and sanctioned an increase in the number of Chinese tourists visiting the island.
"Even if relations are warming, we will not relax in our war preparedness," Chiu told reporters.
He said troops will practice how to increase their effectiveness during the war game.
"We will practice redeploying our troops so as to avoid heavy casualties during the first wave of mainland missile attack, which would most likely target our key industries and military establishments," he said.
WaPo reports that more officials in the Chen Shui-bian government will face "corruption" charges.
The Taiwan Supreme Prosecutor's Office said in a statement that former justice minister Shih Mao-lin, former education minister Tu Cheng-sheng, former interior minister Lee Yi-yang, former examination minister Lin Chia-cheng and former civil service minister Chu Wu-hsien were among nine people indicted Tuesday. The sums each of the five former ministers were alleged to have embezzled by using false receipts to claim expenses ranged from about $12,000 to $200,000, according to the state-run Central News Agency.
The prosecutor's office also said it had cleared several former officials of similar charges. They included former foreign minister James Huang, former economics minister Steve Chen and former Mainland Affairs Council chairwoman Tsai Ing-wen, now head of Chen Shui-bian's Democratic Progressive Party.
Too bad nobody report that none of the thousands of officials in the previous KMT administrations will be investigated. At least she reports further down in the article that Ma was indicted but acquitted. Andrew Yang gets mentioned, but there's no mention that he is widely perceived to be Blue.
Here at home the idiotic decision to build coal-fired power plants is leading to further local issues, as NIMBY comes out in force.... it seems the wharf for the coal is in dispute.
Shouldn't be building coal-fired plants in the first place -- and on Taiwan's gorgeous northeast coast! Clinical insanity....
Kuomintang (KMT) Legislator Lee Ching-hua's (李慶華) attempt to overturn a Council for Economic Planning and Development decision not to allow the Taiwan Power Co (Taipower) to build a coal unloading dock at Fantziao (蕃仔澳) resulted in a confrontation with his KMT colleague, Hsieh Kuo-liang (謝國樑), on Monday. The bay lies between Taipei County's Rueifang Township (瑞芳) and Keelung. Leading some 500 residents from Rueifang in a demonstration outside the legislature's front gate, Lee, who represents constituents in Taipei County, said the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Taipower's plan to build the dock at Rueifang to supply material to the nearby Shenao (深澳) coal-fired power plant had passed the Environmental Protection Administration's (EPA) environmental impact assessment and also won the support of township residents.
However, legislators from Keelung interfered, calling for a change of the construction site to Suao Port (蘇澳港) or the new Taipei Port, Lee said.
He accused those opposed to the project of seeking benefits from the shipment of coal and urged politicians from Keelung to stay out of Rueifang's business.
[Taiwan]
"New Taiwan Dollar"
ReplyDeletehmm.. isnt that irony pure?
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Taiwan will go ahead with its annual war games to prepare for a possible Chinese attack, the military said Tuesday, despite the recent warming in relations with Beijing.
The military drill will feature live-fire air and navy interception and anti-landing maneuvers, the Defense Ministry announced.
"Even if relations are warming, we will not relax in our war preparedness," Lt. Gen. Chiu Kuo-cheng told reporters.
He said troops will practice how to increase their effectiveness at the Sept. 22-26 war games.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jc1RpL4e96Dk-sIxxV0XAWTjEo5gD91U3H000
Is the government so utterly naive as to believe that simply uttering "3,000 tourists a day" will make them appear. There are significant practical limits on the number of tourists that can arrive even with Beijing's cooperation. Namely the number of hotel rooms and aeroplane seats.
ReplyDelete10,000 tourists a day? Are they going to swim across the Taiwan Strait and sleep on the streets?
However, the Constitution and the government of the Republic of China (ROC), now based in Taiwan, do not recognize any Chinese territorial changes based on any agreements signed by the People's Republic of China, including this one.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.chinapost.com.tw/editorial/world%20issues/2008/07/16/165657/Russia-returns.htm
Today's SCMP reported that the number of Chinese who have received the permits to travel to Taiwan this weekend was below 200 at last count. Supposedly, despite allowing 1,000 tourists to visit daily, China can impose a subtle restriction just by dragging its feet on granting travel permits.
ReplyDeleteThe RMB currency restriction is a serious issue. The RMB is not freely convertible, and Beijing needs to keep tight track of it to prevent currency speculators from taking advantage.
ReplyDeleteMainland Chinese tourists have the option of exchanging RMB for USD before traveling to Taiwan. There's no real compelling reason for RMB to be used in Taiwan at the moment.
thomas, I think you left out this rather important quote from the SCMP article:
She said from what she had learned through her mainland counterparts, unfamiliarity with the new measures was the major reason for the delay. The Taiwanese operator said she hoped the procedure would take less time as the mainland authorities became more familiar with it.
Tang, they were familiar enough with it to send over 700 tourists the first weekend. Do you mean that they are less familiar with it now?
ReplyDeleteAnd the key word in the quotation you just cited was "hoped".
And thank you for the citation. As it says clearly, the nice Taiwanese tour operator does not know why, and is speculating based on what she has heard from mainland tour guides, whom I would hardly call the movers and the shakers of China's permit-granting world.
What kind of power plants does Mr. Turton support? I seem to recall resistance to the addition of Nuclear power plants. Should the Taiwan economy import more people and animals and operate on muscle power?
ReplyDeleteYes, readin, that's right. Our only choice is between nuclear power and muscle power.
ReplyDeleteOy ve.
Michael
Tang, they were familiar enough with it to send over 700 tourists the first weekend. Do you mean that they are less familiar with it now?
ReplyDeleteEarlier press reports confirmed the tourists lucky enough to win access on the first trip were all frequent, VIP travelers with the travel agencies involved. They also had 2-4 weeks to plan for the trip.
Now we're talking about the general public. The same SCMP article you chose to quote referred to the first batch of visitors the "trial run", and says the program "officially starts this Friday".
As far as the tour guides credibility... seems intellectual dishonest to rely on her hearsay statement when it serves your purpose, and to reject it when it doesn't.
Did I say nuclear and coal were the only choices? I didn't. I asked what kind you support.
ReplyDeleteCoal plants pollute more than most power plants, but most power plants pollute significantly.
I don't know if it is the case here, but back home, using coal to produce electricity is the dark business of a few interests who sell such watts at overprice to the govt... en hence more expensive to teh consumer, belating the gains of having more of these plants unless there is no other way to produce energy- which they then make sure it is so by blocking hydroelectrical or hydrotermal -volcanic- plants.
ReplyDeleteIsn't the policy of this ROC govt. to diminish the nation's carbon footprint and to expand the touirism/service industry? Wouldn't coal mining/cola electricity producing ventures contradict these two goals?
"As far as the tour guides credibility... seems intellectual dishonest to rely on her hearsay statement when it serves your purpose, and to reject it when it doesn't."
ReplyDeleteI rejected the implication that her statement convincingly provides "the main reason" for the low number of tourists because the statement relies on heresay from mainland tour operators (who are often not in the know, as the recent Olympic visa fiasco proves). Where is the intellectual dishonesty in that?
In fact, the one who was relying on the heresay statement was you, Tang.
And since when does a trial run not provide experience for a main event? That is the point of a trial run, is it not?
Tang, I fail to see how anything you have said changes anything I said in the first place. But you're welcome to keep trying.
Michael, I usually find most of your points interesting and thoughtful but regarding the declining performance of Taiwan's stock market and economy, I'm a little confused by your constant criticism of Ma. I would think that 2 months in office would not be adequate to place so much responsibility on for the economy, stock market etc.
ReplyDeleteI mean, when it comes to the recent China-Taiwan flights and seemingly closer relations, you've stated that a lot of the credit is actually due to the previous administration. Now why does the KMT have to take so much of the blame?
It may be that your criticisms are valid but I'd like to know what do you base these specific ones on the economy on.
Michael, I usually find most of your points interesting and thoughtful but regarding the declining performance of Taiwan's stock market and economy, I'm a little confused by your constant criticism of Ma. I would think that 2 months in office would not be adequate to place so much responsibility on for the economy, stock market etc.
ReplyDeleteHilton, I'm not hacking on Ma; I don't think he is responsible. I'm hack -- or at least, I thought I was hacking! -- on the people who voted for Ma thinking somehow he was going to "save" Taiwan's economy, and on the pump-n-dump stock pundits who pushed Taiwan's stock market up artificially. In other words, I'm attacking a certain political mentality.
It is true I don't have much respect for Ma, but I don't blame him personally for has happened with the stock market. Instead I blame the idiots who voted for him.
I mean, when it comes to the recent China-Taiwan flights and seemingly closer relations, you've stated that a lot of the credit is actually due to the previous administration. Now why does the KMT have to take so much of the blame?
Well, they are not. But I think Shriver put it well -- they went after the low hanging fruit, the easy policy stuff. Note that DPP did an excellent job extracting concessions, and focused on what was good for Taiwan.
It may be that your criticisms are valid but I'd like to know what do you base these specific ones on the economy on.
Again, I am not criticizing the KMT for the economy, per se, only the mentality that it could "fix" the "problems" that don't really exist, and the blind worshipful unthinking stupidity of imagining that 1,000 or 3,000 or 10,000 tourists a day can "save" Taiwan.
I thought I had been clear, but you've made me realize I need to clarify things better.
Michael