Recent News & Activities

EBAT Member Cantina Del Gio will be holding an all-you-can-eat lunch on 19 August!

EBAT's 2023 Annual General Meeting will be held on 31 August in the EBAT office in JustCo Minsheng Jianguo. Join us as we recap the past year and nominate the Board of Supervisors (BoS) and Board of Directors (BoD) to lead the chamber for the next 12 months.

The July update will be sent to all paying Subscribers of the TBLF Taiwan Business Leaders' Forum, as well as made available on the online Subscriber Login area on 31 July. Physical in-person sessions will resume with the August session.

Next session: 24 August 2023

For more information on becoming a Subscriber: www.ebatw.org/tblf

In her first week of mentorship with EBAT Member Good You Digital, Carlyn has learnt how to create brand content – next up: marketing via various channels such as e-mail and the Line app!

Pre-book one of 4 available wedding photography packages and enjoy a 5* hotel honeymoon suite in Melaka!

The inaugural EBAT Mentorship Program will take place over the 2023 summer holidays! The mentorship stint aims to impart a greater understanding of their aspired profession to the mentees, and also help them gain important contacts for future collaboration.

Browse the full list at www.ebatw.org/memberprivileges.

The full recap has now been sent to all paying Subscribers of the TBLF Taiwan Business Leaders' Forum.

Next session: 15 June 2023

For more information on becoming a Subscriber: www.ebatw.org/tblf

With the upgrade of CANTINA DEL GIO's EBAT SME Membership to EBAT Corporate Membership, EBAT Membership will now cover 3 additional exciting F&B dining destinations within Taipei City.

Scheduled to open in Q3 2023, the sixth centre will be located in Thailand's tallest Grade A luxury office building - One City Centre (OCC), in upscale Bangkok district of Ploenchit.

​SPECIAL!
- Book the package through Facebook or LINE and receive an extra $3,000 voucher for use at JULIA WEDDING NEWS.
- Regent Taipei Rice Dumpling (Zong zhi) giftbox for customers who reserve shooting for the month of May 2023.

The full recap has now been sent to all paying Subscribers of the TBLF Taiwan Business Leaders' Forum.

Next session: 25 May 2023

For more information on becoming a Subscriber: www.ebatw.org/tblf

Photo: Tourism Bureau, MOTC.

Starting 1 May 2023, tourists visiting Taiwan stand to receive vouchers loaded with a value of NTD5,000. The rewards will be available to individual travellers, while travel agencies can receive subsidies worth NTD10,000 - 20,000 for groups coming to Taiwan.

EBAT strategic partner-member JUSTCO is now open at 135 King Street, Sydney! Highly accessible from train stations, outfitted with premium ergonomic furniture and luxe furnishing, of course! Panoramic city views, you bet. JUSTCO's latest coworking space is fast becoming a popular choice among many.

Photo: Associated Press.

South Korea has formally restored Japan to its list of countries it gives preferential treatment in trade, three years after the neighbors downgraded each other's trade status amid a diplomatic row driven by historical grievances.

Photo: Central News Agency.

Annually, the U.S. state of Virginia imports more than US$1 billion in products from Taiwan. Taiwan's office will be Virginia's fourth international trade office, joining Germany, South Korea and Japan. 

Photo: Central News Agency.

Saxony currently has regional offices in several European countries, including Poland and the Czech Republic, and its hoped that the Taipei office will boost ties between Taiwan and Saxony, which is Europe's semiconductor manufacturing hub.

Photo: CNN.

The communique was released as the G7 foreign ministers wrapped up three days of talks in the central Japanese town of Karuizawa in Nagano prefecture.

Photo: Bloomberg.

Group travel from China to Taiwan has been banned since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020. Taiwan's International Association of Tour Managers says 37% of its members are licensed to guide Mandarin-speaking tour groups and most of them will remain out of work until the government re-opens the island to Chinese group tours.

Photo: Nikkei Asia.

The two leading candidates are former Finance Minister Santiago Pena, hailing from the ruling center-right Colorado Party, and Efrain Alegre, a former public works minister who represents a coalition of opposition parties. Santiago Pena, has said he will protect Paraguay's ties with Taiwan, while Efrain Alegre wants to revisit the relationship.

Photo: MOFA.

The new office, expected to open in June or July 2023, will focus on fostering closer economic and trade ties with Italy's financial capital. The Milan office will make Italy the fifth European country with multiple Taiwanese representative offices.

Photo: European Union.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has made her first official trip to Beijing since assuming her post 3 years ago, together with French President Emmanuel Macron on his third state visit to China. Here's what went down in their meeting with China's President Xi Jinping.

Photo: Central News Agency.

From 17 April 2023, passengers on Taiwan's High Speed Rail, metro lines and buses will no longer have to wear a mask.

Photo: REUTERS/David Swanson.

In a 2-hour closed door meeting at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California, U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy stressed the need to speed up arms deliveries to Taiwan. News broke earlier this month regarding a U.S. supply of javelin missiles to Taiwan.

Photo: EE Times.

A new entity is to oversee the contract chipmaker’s production abroad, TSMC said, as it announced new personnel at its US and Japanese subsidiaries. The world’s largest contract chip maker also recently expressed concern about the U.S. subsidy criteria.

Photo: Ramzi Boudina, Reuters.

OPEC members Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Kazakhstan, Algeria, Oman and Iraq announced their decision over the weekend. Here’s 5 things to know about the announcement.

Congratulations to EBAT Member PREPMASTERS INSTITUTE for its excellent university admissions track record, evidenced most recently by its students' acceptance to these top universities!

Photo: www.gov.uk.

Approval for U.K.'s membership comes 25 months after its February 2021 application, amidst mixed reactions and criticism from its people. Taiwan and China are awaiting approval of their memberships, both filed in September 2021.

Photo: Central News Agency.

The javelin missiles are part of an arms deal announced by former U.S. President Donald Trump in July 2019, which also includes 1,700 updated tube-launched, optically tracked, wire-guided (TOW) 2B RF missiles.

Photo: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo.

All eyes are now on Sweden's bid to join NATO - which is currently being blocked by both Turkey and Hungary.

Photo: New Taipei City Government.

The hike joins a series of recent price increases in Taiwan, including the electricity hike beginning next month.

Photo: Thomas Peter / Reuters.
China is Brazil’s biggest trading partner, accounting for more than one-fifth of all imports. It is also Brazil’s largest export market with more than one-third of all exports going to China.

Photo: Central News Agency.

The prolonged egg shortage in Taiwan has seen prices skyrocket and an egg import program from United States, Japan, Australia, the Philippines, Brazil, Turkey, Singapore, Thailand and Malaysia.

Earlier this week, we had the great pleasure of meeting Mr. Jiang Yi-huah 江宜樺, former Premier of Taiwan, former Minister of the Interior and former Minister of Research, Development and Evaluation Commission of the Executive Yuan.

The full recap has now been sent to all paying Subscribers of the TBLF Taiwan Business Leaders' Forum.

Next session: 27 April 2023

For more information on becoming a Subscriber: www.ebatw.org/tblf

Photo: NSTC.

The Taiwan AI Center of Excellence (Taiwan AICoE) tasked with developing Taiwan's artificial intelligence (AI) capability was officially opened on 28 March.

Photo: Central News Agency

The change follows a five-year period from 2018 when the then-newly elected government had changed the name from "Republic of China (Taiwan)" to "Taipei".

Photo: Central News Agency.

Now, after two and a half years, restaurants have reverted to following “The Regulations on Good Hygiene Practice for Food” (GHP), though they may also formulate their own anti-pandemic hygiene rules.

Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images

Amidst speculation that his visit to the U.S. is aimed at shoring up support for his possibly seeking the KMT's nomination for 2024's presidential election, Gou's trip will overlap with current President Tsai Ing-Wen's 29 March - 7 April trip to the U.S., Guatemala and Belize.

Photo: PTI

The Presidential Office has announced that President Tsai Ing-wen will embark on a 10-day state visit to Guatemala and Belize on 29 March. On the agenda is also a meeting with U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

Photo: Central News Agency

The Central American nation announced earlier on Sunday that it had formally cut ties with Taiwan, more than a week after Honduran President Castro said her administration was seeking formal relations with Beijing.

Photo: Central News Agency

Adamova will address Legislative Yuan and meet President Tsai. She is the first female legislative speaker from a country without official diplomatic relations with Taiwan to give a speech at the Legislative Yuan.

Congratulations to EBAT strategic partner-member JUSTCO on its new centre in Australia at 135 King Street, Sydney! Stay tuned for the full reveal!

Photo: Screenshot from Washington Post

At question is the growing concern on exploitation of user data from the app's 150 million global users. In 2022, Taiwanese authorities banned TikTok from public sector devices over concerns of usage by the Chinese government to conduct "cognitive warfare" against Taiwan.

Photo: Central News Agency

It is the fifth consecutive quarter that the central bank has raised interest rates, in an effort to fight inflation, as is being done by the U.S. Federal Reserve, which hiked its rates by 25 basis points on Wednesday.

Photo: Reuters

Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) says it has recalled Taiwan's ambassador from Honduras.

The move comes after the Honduran government announced that it has sent its foreign minister to China for talks on ended formal ties with Taiwan in favor of Beijing.

The agreements were signed a day apart.

The legal aid agreement is the seventh of its kind signed between Taiwan and European countries. Taiwan previously signed a treaty, agreement or memorandum for the same purpose with Poland, Slovakia, the United Kingdom, Denmark and Switzerland.

The Kuomintang (KMT) will likely not be holding a presidential primary to choose its
candidate for 2024's election and will instead be nominating a candidate by special committee.

Do you have all the necessary documents to enjoy the relevant tax relief and deductions in Taiwan? Look out for our free how-to guide coming out soon.

Photo: Reuters

Will a 6th consecutive month drop in outbound shipments keep interest rates steady? Taiwan's Central Bank will announce its updated forecast after its quarterly policy meeting on Thursday.

Photo: Central News Agency

Accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) by both Taiwan and the U.K. would allow for the enhancement of their bilateral trade and economic ties, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-Wen said during a meeting with the delegation.

Photo: AP

In addition to the announcement of a tourist incentive program commencing April 15, Taiwan will also host the 2024 World Indigenous Travel Summit (WITS).

Efforts have been amplified to meet the Tourism Bureau's target of six million visitors to Taiwan in 2023. The tourist incentive project was approved in early-2023 as part of an effort to attract six million visitors to the country during 2023. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, annual tourist numbers were approximately 11 million. 

Photo: Central News Agency

Taiwan's Cabinet has announced that eligible recipients will be allowed to register their information on the official website for the distribution of NT$6,000 tax rebate next week. Families expecting children from October to December this year will also be eligible to claim the cash handouts on behalf of their newborns.

Photo: Taipei Times

Taiwan's state-owned electric power industry providing electricity to Taiwan, TAIPOWER is reportedly set to raise electricity rates by an average of 11%.

Photo: AFP

Honduras' President has instructed her foreign minister to establish official relations with China, a move that would end its ties with Taiwan.

If that materializes, it would leave Taiwan with formal diplomatic relations with only 13 countries.

Photo: Central News Agency (CNA)

Taiwan's Evergreen conglomerate, which has consistently ranked as the top local employer choice for job-seekers, has once more announced a bumper mid-year bonus handout for staff of its Evergreen Marine shipping arm, amounting to between 10 - 11 months' salary.

Photo: Central News Agency

To mark his first 100 days in office, the mayor says his team is making plans to announce new urban renewal policies, as well as moves to open up the Taipei Dome, and raise benefits for parents and childcare workers.

Photo: Reuters

Taiwan's Vice-President and DPP chair Lai Ching-te has registered for the party's presidential primary, ahead of January 2024's presidential election.

Photo: JustCo

Congratulations to EBAT strategic partner-member JustCo on their brand-new “Welcome to Japan” initiative, supported by Enterprise Singapore and ASEAN-Japan Centre!

Photo: CNA Taiwan

People in Taiwan with mild COVID-19 infections will no longer have to quarantine, with effect from March 20, the Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) said Thursday, rolling back a policy that has been in place for more than three years.

Photo: CNA

Taiwan’s president Tsai Ing-wen will receive a leadership award in New York from a prominent think-tank, when she visits the United States this month. The recognition comes on a visit that includes meeting with U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

Photo: CNA

The pandemic combined with the avian flu epidemic has cost Taiwan's egg processing factories more than NT$20 million over the past three years. Shortage of chicken eggs in the past weeks have caused a spike in duck egg prices, especially with the upcoming Dragon Boat Festival.

In a meeting last week, EBAT European Business Association in Taiwan’s General Manager Mr. Goran Gasparac who hails from Croatia, was happy to share his recommendations and exchange notes with the team from Taiwania Capital, Taiwan's quasi-national venture capital investment arm backed by the Taiwanese government and private enterprises.

Let's Make Work Better.

For the month of March, we're excited about enjoying these treats in the office!

Photo: Focus Taiwan, CNA

The face mask mandate on campuses and at educational institutions in Taiwan will be relaxed from today (6 March), allowing students attending classes indoors to remove their face masks for the first time in over 800 days.

Using FRIDAY FACTORY dashboard's File Manager feature you can update content on your website and apps in seconds!

The full recap has now been sent to all paying Subscribers of the TBLF Taiwan Business Leaders' Forum.

Next session: 23 March 2023

For more information on becoming a Subscriber: www.ebatw.org/tblf

Good news from our EBAT Member GOODYOU DIGITAL 內容行銷高峰會 , all the way from the Taiwan pavilion at Dubai’s Gulfood Dubai World Trade Centre!

Applications close 5 March.

We're mailing out our 2023 EBAT Membership Cards to our new Members this week to enjoy 2023 EBAT Member Privileges!

In a statement, Taiwan's Central Epidemic Command Center (CECC) announced that starting 20 February, only a few designated places will still require masks to be worn, such as in medical care institutions, and aboard public transportation and vehicles such as planes, boats, and ambulances.

A major earthquake of magnitude 7.9 struck central Turkey and northwest Syria on Monday, killing hundreds of people as buildings collapsed across the snowy region, triggering a search for survivors trapped in rubble.

EBAT Member JULIA WEDDING NEWS is holding a New Year closed-door private sale of past collection bridal apparel and jewelry!

Photo: JustCo

Congratulations to EBAT strategic partner-member JUSTCO on the opening of its 3rd location in Tokyo!

Located at Gran Tokyo South Tower, just next to Tokyo Station, the JUSTCO GranTokyo South Tower centre exemplifies cues of elegance catering to those with refined requirements. It is a convenient business hub and gateway for domestic and international organisations.

Photo: Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times

Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-Wen has a new Cabinet in place, as the ruling DPP seeks to win an unprecedented third straight term in next year’s presidential vote.  

The full recap has now been sent to all paying Subscribers of the TBLF Taiwan Business Leaders' Forum.

Next session: 23 February 2023

For more information on becoming a Subscriber: www.ebatw.org/tblf

Photo: Chung Li-hua, Taipei Times

State-run oil company Chinese Petroleum Corp (CPC) will leave its domestic gasoline and diesel prices unchanged this week despite a spike in international crude prices last week. 

Congratulations to EBAT strategic partner-member FRIDAY FACTORY on its 3rd anniversary!

Photo: MOFA

Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) has responded warmly to the European Parliament's adopted resolutions in annual implementation reports on the European Union Common Foreign and Security Policy (CFSP) and Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP).

Photo: Central News Agency.
Foreign nationals with permanent residency, resident spouses of Taiwanese nationals, and foreign diplomats will be entitled to a NTD6,000 one-off cash handout after the Lunar New Year.

TBLF Taiwan Business Leaders' Forum now has a dedicated LinkedIn page!
The daily "Economic News from the Markets" post, highlights breaking news from the trade desk.

On the first work day of the new year, we'll like to look back at the connections forged during our last event of 2022 - CHRISTMAS CHEER WITH EBAT & INVESTAIWAN!

Our global membership base and relations with government agencies recently allowed us to arrange for officials from the Taipei City Government to meet with the team from EBAT Member JustCo at the JustCo headquarters in Singapore on 31 October 2022!

The full recap has now been sent to all paying Subscribers of the TBLF Taiwan Business Leaders' Forum.

Next session: 19 January 2023

For more information on becoming a Subscriber: www.ebatw.org/tblf

Congratulations to EBAT strategic partner-member JustCo on its new centre in Singapore at International Plaza, which officially opens its doors on 1 December 2022!

EBAT European Business Association in Taiwan is pleased to partner with the TCA to offer....

Located in the Zhongshan Underground Mall, in the middle of Taipei Station and Zhongshan Station...