Narrow Results

This study explores the influence of government’s spending on environmental protection on air pollution in Taiwan. Using the panel data of 20 counties, county-level cities, and municipalities in Taiwan covering the period from 2013 to 2018 and the spatial econometric analysis due to considering the possible spatial dependence of air pollution represented by PM_2.5 concentration and SO₂ emissions, the primary finding is that government’s spending in the environmental protection can statistically significantly improve air pollution regardless of where the financial source is. However, rather than the local fiscal expenditure on environmental protection, subsidies of the air pollution control from the central government can play more important roles to effectively improve air quality of the local area in Taiwan.

This paper examines the impact of COVID-19 on tourist hotel performance and tourism demand in Taiwan. We use population-based administrative data on tourist hotels and visits with official records of COVID-19 cases to estimate the effect of the disease on the industry. Results show that a 1% increase in the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 decreased the total revenues, and the room revenues and food and beverage revenues of tourist hotels by 0.33%, 0.47% and 0.26%, respectively. Moreover, the impact of COVID-19 is heterogeneously distributed among tourist hotels of different quality. With respect to mechanism behind the negative effect of COVID-19 on tourist hotel performance, decreases in tourism demand is a driving factor. We find that a 1% increase in the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19 reduces the number of tourist visits by 0.10%.

This research analyzes intergenerational income mobility over three generations in Taiwan by estimating intergenerational income elasticity (IGE). Results indicate that IGE between fathers and sons is 0.349, and IGE between fathers and grandsons is 0.139. Fathers’ death during grandsons’ early ages does not affect IGE between them, and the independent effect of fathers’ income on grandsons’ income is weak. Roughly, 65% of IGE between fathers and grandsons is explained by sons’ couples’ income. Quantile results show that IGE between fathers and grandsons is stronger at upper tail of fathers’ income distribution, and it is especially strong for extremely rich grandsons.

An outbreak of a disease with multiple erosive papules and ulcers on the lips, noses, and tongues of calves was reported in Taiwan in August 2023. Five of 11 2–4-month-old dairy calves were affected. Oral swabs, nasal swabs, and esophageal–pharyngeal fluid were collected and tested positive for bovine papular stomatitis virus (BPSV) via quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction assay (qPCR) for all of the affected calves. All of the positive calves remained positive for BPSV after 1 month of the outbreak, and the viral loads of the affected calves did not decrease within this period. To determine the genetic characteristics of this outbreak strain, phylogenetic analysis was performed with the partial B2L sequence of BPSV. The results revealed that the virus strain was closely related to isolates from Japan, the United States, and France. This is the first report on an outbreak in this particular region since 1988 and the first molecular characterization of BPSV in Taiwan.

Within just four decades Taiwan was able to transform itself from a poor and backward economy into a high income, newly-industrialized economy. Taiwan's outstanding economic performance during this period prompted the World Bank and other international organizations to refer to this transformation as the "Taiwan miracle," and other developing countries have been encouraged to learn from Taiwan's experience. Harmonious and stable labor–management relations was — one of the major factors contributed to this successful development because they facilitated the inflow of a large amount of direct foreign investment (DFI) and therefore provided the island with the capital and appropriate advanced technologies that were urgently needed, and generated a large number of employment opportunities. In this paper, we use the concept of social capital to explain the causes of the harmonious labor–management relations in the past, and discuss the possible future of Taiwan's labor–management relations.

The rapid expansion of higher education in the late 1980s in Taiwan has resulted in a swift increase in the supply of highly-educated workers in the labor market. This research differs from past studies in that it analyzes the effect of the rapid expansion in higher education in Taiwan with emphasis on the cohort effect, specifically examining the effect of changes both in intra-cohort relative supply and the aggregate relative supply on college returns. Besides, when estimating the aggregate relative supply of college graduates, this study takes into account the substitutability between younger and older educated workers. We present evidence that the expansion policy has significantly depressed college premiums for workers of all ages, but the adverse effect is particularly concentrated among the younger cohorts. Furthermore, we found the elasticity of substitution between college and high school graduates to be 3–4 times higher than in developed countries. We also found the important role played by the demand side, likely linked to technological progress and changes in export structure toward the more technologically intensive. As a consequence, the expansion of higher education and increase in the relative demand for higher-educated workers, along with high elasticity of substitution between college and high school graduates, led to the rigid low college premiums.

This paper empirically investigates the relationship among the tax evasion and local disposal income, unemployment rate and demographic variables by using 20 municipalities in Taiwan with the official interior, latest, and wider range of panel data over the period from 1998 to 2011. The main findings support the positive impact of disposal income on tax evasion, while unemployment rate has a negative impact. Among the interest rate effect models, if policy-makers want to hinder the extension of tax evasion, they should reduce the interest rate. Furthermore, government not only applies fiscal policy but also applies monetary policy for improving tax evasion. In our regional effect model, we have found evidence on a positive impact of the demographic structure variables on tax evasion except social expenditure of local government. We have also found clear evidence on the positive impact in South and East areas on tax evasion in the regional effect model. Moreover, both interest rate and regional factors have an influence on tax evasion.

This paper presents evidence that since 1980, relative to native-born Americans and other immigrants, the earnings of Taiwanese immigrants have grown rapidly as they assimilate into the U.S. economy. Consistent with the existing U.S. evidence, I show that most of the immigrant–native earnings gaps can be explained by endowments, and the importance of endowments continues to increase. The estimates indicate that the improved endowments from education and U.S. experience, along with rising returns to both factors, largely explain Taiwanese immigrants’ economic assimilation experience. I show that more recently arrival cohorts of Taiwanese immigrants have earned more than the older ones since 1980.

This study examines how and why the gap between economic growth and real wage growth in Taiwan is widening, a phenomenon that contrasts sharply with South Korea, which has a similar industrial structure to that of Taiwan. We empirically demonstrate that, despite the continued growth of labor productivity, the benefits from economic growth allocated to workers have been falling, and that this process has accelerated following the 2008–2009 financial crisis. The labor market institutional effect contributed partially to the problem. Workers’ purchasing power, measured by the real consumption wage rate, has been declining for a relatively long period, implying significant deterioration of terms-of-trade, and cutting real wage growth by as much as 2.23% per year. The terms-of-trade effect is particularly prominent in the manufacturing sector, which is highly export-oriented. Moreover, we found cash wages to be very sensitive to the rise in the rate of unemployment, and to the changes in output performance of the industry in which the workers are employed. The latter factor significantly reduced the cash wages paid to workers in the manufacturing sector, which highlighted the waning of workers’ bargaining power regarding wages, as well as the negative impact of globalization on the labor market. We therefore conclude that the deterioration of terms-of-trade, increases in the aggregate unemployment rate, the adverse globalization effect and the institutional effect might be the main driving forces for real wage stagnancy in Taiwan.

Globalization has caused many countries to experience significant slowdown, thus, tourism development becomes the primary policy to stimulate the economy. Investigating the demand of leisure activities is necessary for the development of a tourism industry with sound policies. This research adopts demographic data to allocate the factors affecting participation decisions and utilizes semi-nonparametric (SNP) regressions to analyze household decision regarding domestic and international trips. By combining a parametric component with a nonparametric component, the SNP method increases the flexibility of participation decision models from relaxing distributional assumptions. The results of this study reveal that decision-making for both domestic and international trips is jointly determined. Various factors, including income, capital gain ratio, age and education, are decisive to trip types, indicating the market segmentation of tourism businesses. Moreover, SNP regression performs superior to the traditional bivariate probit model, suggesting that the model developed in this research can provide comprehensive results for policy implications.

Since the economic consequences of a low fertility rate, such as a change in consumption patterns, might affect the path of economic growth, this study investigates how the relationship between the low fertility rate and consumption behavior in Taiwan has changed over time. Using county-level panel data from 1995 to 2014 to examine the impact of the low fertility rate on the consumption behavior of households in Taiwan, the major finding of this study is that a low fertility rate will change the behavior and the composition of consumption. A low fertility rate will increase the share of the total consumption expenditure in a household’s disposable income, in particular, in relation to the consumption categories of food, health care, education, and transportation and communication, but will decrease the share of expenditure on clothing in the household’s disposable income.

This paper aims to investigate the following two issues related to internal migration in Taiwan: one is the widely discussed issue of the existence of magnetic effects induced by welfare benefits and the other is a rarely discussed issue of the existence of phantom voters. Using panel data for 23 counties and cities from 1995 to 2010 and estimating three fixed-effects spatial Durbin models, the primary findings of this study are that, by keeping other factors constant and considering the spatial dependence of migration, welfare migration is found to exist, particularly for females, and the number of phantom voters in an election year can significantly affect internal migration in Taiwan.

This paper investigates the effect of exchange rate volatility on bilateral trade between Taiwan and Indonesia via 19 export and import industries. Considering the existence of an asymmetric effect of exchange rate volatility on trade, we employ an asymmetric ARDL model and arrive at the following main results. First, the long-run asymmetric effect of exchange rate volatility shows far higher impacts on Taiwan’s exports to Indonesia than on Taiwan’s imports from Indonesia. Second, the short-run asymmetric effect of exchange rate volatility causes unstable changes on the trade amounts for most of Taiwan’s export and import industries with Indonesia.

Opportunity costs of environmental regulations (OCER) are an important consideration when governments make decisions on the formulation of environmental policies and when plants make decisions in response to environmental policies. Aimed at measuring OCER, the current paper proposes an approach in which the achievements of environmental control implemented by a production unit are considered. We quantify and define the achievements as "desirable" environmental outputs. In this way, for a production unit, producing normal desirable outputs and reaching environmental outputs is a tradeoff. OCER is measured by calculating a maximum amount of increasable normal outputs when production units do not need to produce any environmental outputs. Directional distance functions and data envelopment analysis (DEA) techniques are used to calculate OCER. The approach is applied to an empirical illustration based on Taiwan's port industry covering the period 2001–2007. It is found that the industry incurred opportunity costs due to environmental regulations equivalent to 1.8% of total revenue it creates. However, the OCER are significantly less than the economic losses due to productive inefficiency (PIE).

Underreporting of HIV/AIDS cases is a common problem in HIV epidemiology which often skews epidemiologic projections on which public health policy decisions are often based, especially in the cases of low HIV prevalence countries or in early phases of an emerging epidemic when the HIV incidence is still low, but might be growing rapidly. In this work, we propose a simple mathematical model with groups of known and undetected HIV-positives. Using this model with the annual HIV incidence data of new HIV cases and new AIDS cases detected at onset of symptoms, we are able to obtain an estimate for the number of undetected HIV-positives. Moreover, using Taiwan data of 1993–2000, we are able to predict the number of new cases in the next two years within 5% accuracy. We also give an approximate ratio of underreporting which approximates the magnitude of underreporting of HIV cases in low HIV prevalence settings. The procedure is illustrated with the HIV data of Taiwan and Cuba. The result shows that underreporting in Cuba is low, probably due to its intense contact tracing program. For Taiwan, the level of underreporting is higher, but has improved slightly since 1999. The method is useful as a simple tool to gauge the immediate impact of an emerging epidemic, as well as for the purpose of public health policy planning and short-term future projections.

Recently, the interests in the performance of family firms in the capital market are on the rise. However studies on long-term performance give us little information about the performance of family firms in the initial public offering (IPO) markets. Building on agency theory, we investigated the effect of three IPO signals in family firm IPOs. Practices such as the appointment of outside non-family directors and waiting longer before going public significantly reduce underpricing. In addition, family owners' intent to retain large percentage of share in the long run is an indication of original shareholders' level of confidence in their own companies. Such confidence helps reduce after market investors' uncertainty and thus underpricing. On the other hand, family ownership at the IPO positively moderates the impact of non-family directors on underpricing.

This study examines the influence of green creativity to the green new product performances. Creativity is a key source of organization’s competitive advantage (Barney, 1991) and increases the likelihood of new product success by providing effective product differentiation (Song, 2018). Building on the thesis of Natural Resource-based view (Hart, 1995), we study the impact of green creativity on the performances of green new products. This study also shows that family involvement plays a role in the green performances of family businesses. We pay particular attention to family firms because of two reasons. First, family businesses represent a significant proportion of the corporate sector in both developed and developing countries (Faccio and Lang 2002). Second, family firms have different behavioral patterns when reacting to stakeholders’ pressures (Huaang, Ding, and Kao, 2009; Sharma and Sharma, 2011) for better environmental management practices. This study surveyed 134 family-owned, high-tech manufacturers in Taiwan. The findings show that the green creativity is positively and significantly related to green new product performances. Our analytical results also show that family involvement moderates the relationship between green creativity and green new product performances.

This case discussion looks at the challenges that an enterprise might face during its transition into a new industry by describing Kung Long Corporation's transition from the stone industry to the deep-sea water industry. Kung Long's case reveals the importance of strategy formulation when an enterprise shifts into a new and unfamiliar industry. The effectiveness of strategy formulation depends not only on how well the five essential elements (i.e., arenas, vehicles, differentiators, staging, and economic logic) are integrated into the strategy (Hambrick and Fredrickson, 2001), but also on the strategy maker's awareness of the differences between industrial properties and, thereafter, changing her or his mindset accordingly (Ansoff, 1990). In this case analysis, we firstly assess Kung Long's advantages and its limitations in the deep-sea water industry. Then, we look into the two important challenges for strategy formation. First of all, we focus on Kung Long's strategy in the deep-sea water industry and analyze the integration level of the five dimensions in strategy formation (Hambrick and Fredrickson, 2001), so as to highlight the potential problems in Kung Long's current strategy. Second, we illustrate the challenge of management mentality in this transition into deep-sea water business. In this part, we discuss the differences between the stone industry and the deep-sea water industry in order to present the managerial challenges that Kung Long needs to overcome. Finally, we apply the perspective of double-loop learning (Sterman, 1994) to recommend the learning style and mentality that best suit the deep-sea water industry.

Japan Not Ready for Freezing of Human Eggs.

Updated TB Guidelines on Website.

Philippines Approves Insect-protected Corn.

Taiwan Approves Plans to Reduce Drug Costs.

Repressible Sterility for Farm Pests Elimination.

GM Rice as Raw Material for Fuel Ethyl Alcohol.

Anti-Cancer Substances Found in Devilfish.

India Getting Closer to AIDS Vaccine Trial.

Japan Develops New Method for Blood Vessel Repair.

Coffee Reduces Risks of Diabetes.

Lab-On-Chip Technology in Taiwan.

SARS Brings Out Taiwan’s Sovereignty Issue.

Asean Countries to Fight SARS Together.

Thermal Scanner Becomes Hot Anti-SARS Device.

Businesses Quick to Cash In on SARS Crisis.

SARS Strikes Hard in Taiwan.

Taiwan’s Anti-SARS Compromised by Uncooperative Citizens.

Cover Up in Ho Ping.

Taiwan Braces Itself for Economic Ramifications.

Chinese Medicine to Combat SARS.

Control Measures for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in Taiwan.

Beijing Formulates Contingency Plan to Guard Against SARS Resurgence.

ASMR Reports a Five-fold Economic Return for Health R&D Expenditure.

New Pharmaceuticals Partnerships Program in Australia.

Japanese Gearing Up for Possible SARS Outbreak.

New Mad Cow Case in Japan Sparks Fear of New Viral Strain.

Pakistan's Initiatives in Biotechnology.

Biotechnology Looking Up Again in Taiwan and Asia Pacific.

New Radiotherapy Center in Australia.

Breakthrough in Cardiac Disease Treatment.

New Prostheses Available in Taiwan.

Plans for New Herbal Medicine Research Facility.

Health Concerns over Herbal Beverages' Alcohol Contents.

Dapumei Herbal Biotechnology Park in Taiwan.

Fat Reducing Fruit.

Multivalent Anti-Bacterial Vaccines Available for Fish.

Free Trade Zones in Taiwan by 2008.

Moth Released to Control Mimosa Spread.

New Agricultural Treasury Established in Taiwan.

Sumitomo Chemical and Bayer CropScience Develop New Rice Fungicide.

A*STAR Partners with Top UK University.

New York Academy of Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Shanghai Institutes of Biomedical Sciences Host a Groundbreaking Conference.

Taiwan and Israel Collaborate on Nanotechnology and Biomedical Science.

GAU Signs MoU with IAF to Popularize Ayurveda Globally.

WHO Hails Multi-million Dollar Funding to Fight TB Pandemic.

Rockeby Completes Further Distribution of Avian Flu Diagnostic Deals in Europe, Asia and the Middle East.

CyGenics in International Cancer Therapy Collaboration.

Western Australia Leads to Crack Diabetes Code.

China Intends to Push for GM Crop Studies.

Taiwan Government to Fund Biotech Industry Development.

Australian Scientists Collaborate with US Researchers on Lupus Research.

Japan to Increase its Expenditure on Sciences.

Bird Flu Moves Closer to Italy, Britain, France, Germany and Nigeria.

Dr Reddy's Acquires Betapharm.

Singapore EDB Aims to Attract $10 Billion Research Investments.

Singapore at the Forefront of Lipid Research.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Licenses AIDS Drug Free to Third World Drug Manufacturers.

The Biotechnology Incubation Center of Academia Sinica: A Gateway to Innovative Taiwan.

Cancer Targeting Nanomedicine: An Opportunity for Drug Development in Asia with Emphasis on Taiwan.

Recombinant Lipoproteins for the Development of Novel Subunit Vaccines.

Discovery of Therapeutic Human Monoclonal Antibodies through B-cell Immortalization Technology.

Toxicity of Engineered Nanomaterials.

2013 – A Year of Access, Convergence and Technology.

Cancer Targeting Nanomedicine: An Opportunity for Drug Development in Asia with Emphasis on Taiwan.

ASEAN Economic Community 2015: Opportunities for Trade and Investment in Thailand's Biotechnology Sector.

Quality Issues in Pharmaceuticals: An Overview into Root Cause Investigations.

Hospitals' Community Benefits: A Measure of Social Responsibility in Health Care.

Journey to the East: The growing Role of Asian Headquarters for Multinational Life Sciences Companies.

Therapy for Hippocampus Injury: Can Neural Stem Cells Help?

Nanject: Drug Delivery Cancer Cells Detection.

Science Communication: Singapore Science Centre Style.

NEWS – Lilly and Innovent Biologics enter strategic alliance; one of the largest biotech drug development collaborations in China.

NEWS – ZAI Lab enrolls first patient in Phase 1 study of ZL-2102.

NEWS – LamdaGen Corporation launches Taiwan diagnostic subsidiary.

NEWS – 3M makes a greater commitment in China's West Region; Plans for a new customer technical center.

NEWS – NCKU launches campus food ingredients registration platform.

NEWS – Lab-free immune therapy developed.

NEWS – Hainan Province, Hengda Health and Korean Yuanchen enter strategic cooperation agreement.

NEWS – Bristol-Myers Squibb and ZAI Lab enter licensing agreement to develop, manufacture and commercialize brivanib in China.

NEWS – Concord Medical acquires Fortis Surgical Hospital in Singapore.

NEWS – Merck Animal Health and China Animal Husbandry Industry Co., Ltd establish partnership.

NEWS – Helsinn Group signs exclusive agreement with Mundipharma for distribution and license of anamorelin in China, Hong Kong and Macau.

NEWS – C-FDA approves IND for D-Pharm's anti-epileptic drug, DP-VPA in China.

NEWS – Waters' UPLC I-Class/Xevo TQ-S System approved for in vitro diagnostic use in China.

NEWS – Vitruvias Therapeutics and Sunny Pharmtech form partnership to co-develop several high value generic drugs.

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RESEARCH INSTITUTES – A look at Duke Kunshan University Global Health Research Center.

RESEARCH INSTITUTES – The NYU-ECNU Institute of Brain and Cognitive Science.

A Glimpse into Healthcare Policies: How Cancer Control and Prevention Programmes Have Evolved Across Asia.

Understanding Healthcare Policies in the Philippines: Cancer Care.

Healthcare Systems and Health Policies in Thailand: Cancer Care.

Cancer Care and Control in Taiwan: An Interview with Dr. Shu-Ti Chiou.

An Interview with Professor Myint Han: Healthcare in Myanmar.

SINGAPORE – Singapore eHealth Innovations Summit Announces the First EMRAM Stage 7 Hospital in Singapore and Emphasized Technology as Transformative Agent in Specialty Functions.

TAIWAN – Health2Sync Strategically Partners with Taiwan's Ministry of Health and Welfare in Asia's First Government Supported Online Diabetes Care Program.

UNITED STATES – Scientists Identify Protein Involved in Restoring Effectiveness of Common Treatment for Breast Cancer.

UNITED STATES – Scientists Reveal How Signals from Pathogenic Bacteria Reach Danger Sensors of Cells.

UNITED STATES – Scientists Find New Path in Brain to Ease Depression.

UNITED STATES – Tips for Living a Heart Healthy Lifestyle.

CANADA – Review Suggests Eating Oats Can Lower Cholesterol as Measured by a Variety of Markers.

SOUTH KOREA – CSA Group Opens Highly Advanced Electro - Medical Laboratory in Seoul.

AUSTRALIA – Cynata’s Technology Significant Efficacy in Preclinical Asthma Study.

INDIA – Essilor Launches ‘Love to See Change’ Campaign to Educate People about Need to Preserve Visual Health.

This paper seeks to identify which factors are important for estimating portfolio's expected return and standard deviation in the Taiwan stock market. We have summarized from the existing empirical literature a total of 26 factors that may have explanatory power. The results of our evaluation show that except for the trading volume, the remaining 25 factors do not seem to help explain the average stock returns during the July 1985–June 1999 period. However, the power of the trading volume to account for the expected returns on the stock is affected by any changes in the sample or by the use of a different evaluation model. We suggest three potential explanations of why all 26 factors show no stable power to explain average returns on Taiwan stocks: high volatility, selection bias, and market differences. Moreover, we find that all of the 26 factors are important in capturing the systematic covariation in stock returns.

The experiences of Taiwan and Thailand following the 1997 crisis of the baht provide evidence of the importance of the quality of the financial infrastructure of a country in its ability to deal with unstable financial markets. The very high quality of the financial infrastructure in Taiwan (together with its peripheral role in the crisis itself) enabled its economy to escape relatively unscathed. In contrast, a lack of sophisticated financial institutions and nonfinancial firms both triggered the crisis in Thailand and required the Thai economy to experience its full force.

By utilizing vector error correction model (VECM) and EGARCH model, this article uses 5-minute intraday data to examine the interaction of return and volatility between Taiwan Stock Exchange Capitalization Weighted Stock Index (TAIEX) and the newly introduced TAIEX futures. VECM model shows that there exists bi-directional Granger causality between index spot and index futures markets, but spot market plays a more important role in price discovery. The results of impulse response function and information share indicate that most of the price discovery happens in index spot market. The evidence of EGRACH shows that the impacts of spot and futures innovations are asymmetrical, and the volatility spillovers between spot and futures markets are bi-directional. However, the information flow from spot to futures is stronger. These results suggest that the TAIEX spot market dominates the TAIEX futures market in terms of return and volatility.

This article uses daily data from July 21, 1998 to July 31, 2000 to examine the hedging effectiveness, price behavior, and lead-lag relationship of SGX MSCI Taiwan index futures and TAIFEX TAIEX futures. By applying the Bayesian approach using Gibbs sampler, we find that TAIFEX index futures has a better hedging performance. A variance ratio test reveals that mean reversion and negative correlation of returns exist in SGX index futures. Only TAIFEX TAIEX futures is cointegrated with TAIEX spot. The uni-directional Granger causality between the two futures markets and spot market are from SGX to TAIEX and from TAIEX to TAIFEX. In terms of price discovery, SGX MSCI Taiwan index futures play a more important role than TAIFEX TAIEX futures.

This paper examines the arbitrage opportunity existing between Taiwan stock index futures and spot markets with the consideration of transaction costs. Index-futures arbitrageurs only enter into the market if the deviation from the equilibrium relationship is sufficiently large to compensate for transaction costs, as well as risk and price premiums. Employing the 5-minute intraday data of Taiwan index futures contracts, this paper uses the threshold cointegration model to estimate the upper and lower thresholds within which arbitrage is not profitable and, hence, the mispricing errors do not adjust back to equilibrium in the central regime. Combining these thresholds with an error correction model (ECM), empirical results show that there exists bi-directional Granger–causality relationship between index futures and spot markets. However, once the long-run cointegrated equilibrium does not hold, re-establishment of the equilibrium situation mostly depends on price adjustment in the futures market.

In this paper we empirically examine the effects of 451 restricted share repurchase announcements in Taiwan. Their 3-day cumulative abnormal returns are all significantly positive for different purposes and Tobin's qs. However, there is no significant difference in abnormal returns for different repurchasing purposes. This indicates that mandating a purpose is not really an effective tool for limiting managerial choice. Moreover, when the related variables are controlled, the other empirical results we conducted indicate that, at least in Taiwan, the traditional signaling hypothesis and the free cash flow hypothesis can function simultaneously to explain the effects of the restricted repurchase announcements.

Taiwan's semiconductor industry has been prominent and ranks number four in the world. The vertical disintegration model of Taiwan's semiconductor is a very unique one among the integrated circuit industries around the world. The objective of this paper is to study the vertical disintegration management of Taiwan's semiconductor industries. A price model which there are both integrated (IDM) and unintegrated (IC foundry and IC fabless separated) firms was presented. A vertical disintegration model in which there is a Cournot–Nash equilibrium at both stages of production, upstream (IC design) and downstream (IC fabrication), has been proposed to explain analytically the market price changes subjected to vertical disintegration. It was suggested that the market price of the integrated circuit decreases if the numbers of IC fabless firms are more than half of the total IC firms and are more than the numbers of IC manufacturing firms. In addition, five non-price factors leading to the vertical disintegration of Taiwan's semiconductor industries have been proposed: (1) industrial localization and cluster, (2) fast changes of technology, (3) significant increase of development cost, (4) emergence of IC fabless, and (5) government support. By spinning off the equipment division which needs a high capital, the semiconductor company can actually make profits by concentrating more on the increasingly complex integrated circuit designs. The disintegrated foundry companies can provide advantages of more specialty, higher quality, lower cycle time and good cooperation relations for the IC fabless firms. The vertical disintegration of integrated circuits is expected to be the trend for future for semiconductor manufacturing. In addition, the future challenges and directions of Taiwan's semiconductor industries were also discussed.

This study examines the accuracy and bias associated with the analysts' earnings forecasts of Taiwanese firms. Using the forecast data of individual analysts over 1991–1997 from the I/B/E/S database, we find that analysts' forecasts of earnings are generally more accurate than the predictions of a naïve forecasting model. However, this superiority seems to be largely confined to shorter forecast horizons. We also find that the analysts' earnings forecasts of Taiwanese firms are optimistically biased and that the bias depends on the nature of the earnings news. In addition, analysts' forecasts appear to be more accurate for larger firms and the bias also decreases with firm size. We find some variation in forecast accuracy and bias across industries but the overall results are not driven by any specific time period.

In this paper, we study a sample of 179 corporate asset sales in Taiwan between 1993 and 2003. We find that corporate asset sales in Taiwan enhance parent firm value with cumulative abnormal returns of 1.7715% for the pre-announcement five-day period and 0.6086% for the two-day announcement window. This finding is consistent with the evidence discovered in both UK and US. We also examine whether asset-sale gains are positively related to managerial performance, private lender monitoring, the use of proceeds, the type of asset sales, the profitability of asset sales, and the relative size of asset sales. Our cross-sectional regression results indicate that all variables, except private debt monitoring and relative size, appear with their predicted signs, but not all of them are statistically significant. During longer event windows, we find that only managerial performance measured by Tobin's q and the use of asset-sale proceeds can explain the gains from corporate asset sales in Taiwan.

The purpose of this paper is to employ the Meta-Frontier Cost Function to compare the efficiencies of banks in China and Taiwan over the period 2003–2009. Different from previous literature using loans and securities as the output variables in evaluating banking efficiency, we propose two new variables: interest income on loans and nonperforming loans, to identify whether the banks are both cost and profit efficient and to control the quality of loans. Evidence is found that the average cost efficiency of China's banks leads the Taiwanese banks with a significant gap. Some policy implications are provided accordingly.

Among the economies in the Eastern coastal area of mainland China, Jiangsu has stood out in terms of its rapid and sustained economic growth since 2000. The province has done exceptionally well in terms of competitiveness indicators, catching up quickly with the leading Greater China economy of Taiwan. Such convergence has triggered much academic and policy interest in terms of understanding the driving factors that have enabled Jiangsu to catch up with Taiwan. In this context, this paper empirically analyzes the factors that have caused the convergence between the two economies from 2000 to 2011 by employing Geweke Causality analysis. By decomposing and examining the linear feedback between economic growth and vectors of variables capturing investments in infrastructure, human capital, science, technology and innovation activities, this paper confirms the important role played by those factors in the convergence between Jiangsu and Taiwan in recent years.

In comparing Taiwan’s presidential elections in 2012 and 2016, looking into the influence of the cross-Strait relationship is an important research topic. Analyses of the 2012 presidential election focusing on the cross-Strait relationship therefore serve as a useful reference for such a comparison. All comments on and analyses of the outcome of Taiwan’s 2012 presidential election point to the impact of the cross-Strait economic relationship. By drawing on economic statecraft theories, this paper explores the issue through analyzing post-election survey data. Our study shows that the concern with the impact of the negative development of the cross-Strait economic relationship on Taiwan’s economy had Ma Ying-jeou lost the election significantly influenced the decisions of those voters who were dissatisfied with President Ma’s performance during his first term and yet still voted for him in the election mainly because of Ma’s position on the cross-Strait relationship. They accounted for 5.75% of the total number of voters. Given that the winning margin in the 2012 presidential election was 5.97%, the decision made by the aforementioned voters could have changed the election result. It also shows that 73.7% of the cross-Strait relationship voters were cross-Strait economic voters. Our findings demonstrate that, although the cross-Strait relationship per se may not be the most crucial factor that determines the voting choice of the Taiwan people, it however proves the influence of the cross-Strait economic relationship over the election, hence the economicization of the cross-Strait relationship. By economicization, it is meant that the cross-Strait economic relationship appears to be a dominant issue in the cross-Strait relationship.

There exists a conventional stereotype about native Taiwanese elders that were born in and lived through the Japanese rule before 1945. On the one hand, some politicians and political commentators derogatorily call them the “Kominka generation,” reinforcing the image of this group of having strong affection for and even intense loyalty to the previous Japanese regime. On the other hand, although many researchers have pointed out this cohorts’ strong cultural ties to Han ethnicity — some even possessed nostalgic feelings toward China — in the colonial period, the researchers also emphasized the emergence of their strong sense of being Taiwanese when they suffered various political and cultural discrimination from the new Chinese dominant class after 1945. Therefore, both perspectives falsely imagine this cohort to be definitely identifying themselves as Taiwanese, rejecting Chinese identity, opposing the Kuomintang (KMT), and supporting the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). This paper aims to challenge these stereotypes. By adopting the techniques of grounded theory, the paper shows rich diversity not only in this cohort’s perceptions toward the political parties but also in their identity patterns. Furthermore three themes are identified in these participants’ explanation for their political orientations: economic development, social stability and security, and the cultural hierarchy that gives the KMT elites higher symbolic values than native political elites.

While embracing trade policies that foster trade liberalization, Taiwan has clear protectionist policies covering its agricultural trade, which combine border measures with domestic support, and are closely modeled on the policies created by the European Union. The idea of multifunctionality of agriculture — and its link to trade policy — has created a normative framework whereby the agricultural markets have to be shielded in order for them to provide non-commodity attributes or public goods. This paper aims to explore the causal power of ideas (liberalization and multifunctionality) in the definition of Taiwan’s agricultural trade policy, by analyzing them from the perspective of historical institutionalism, and taking Taiwan as a case study. It is the institutionalization of the idea of multifunctionality that gives it an explanatory power toward understanding the ideational source of protectionism in agricultural trade.

Taiwan has experienced a number of party splits and attempted mergers since democratization. These have played a critical role in the development of the country’s party system. While a number of studies have looked at the emergence of Taiwan’s splinter parties, party mergers have not received academic attention. This study aims to systematically examine the process of party mergers and takeovers. We examine four cases of attempted mergers and takeovers. In each case, we focus the analysis around three core questions: (1) How should we best classify the actual outcomes? (2) How we can best explain the variation in outcomes? (3) How can we assess the success of merger/takeover attempts? Unlike earlier studies, we examine a variety of merger outcomes rather than just successful cases. In addition to mergers, we propose the terms negotiated takeovers and hostile takeovers. Our classification scheme is based on relative party power and the inter-party relationship. To explain the variation in outcome, we applied a framework stressing the interplay of contextual, inter-party and inner-party factors. We found key contextual variables were electoral results, relative party sizes and the electoral system. The most important inter-party variables were ideological proximity and inter-party trust following successful cooperation. Lastly, the inner-party balance of power was also critical, particularly, the strength of leaders with favorable attitudes toward the merger project. We assess the success and failure of merger/takeover attempts with reference to election results, post-merger party unity and whether the post-takeover relationship was cooperative.

This paper explores the factors that affect Taiwanese citizens’ resistance to closer relations with China. Elements in Taiwanese society have recently exhibited a strong sense of anxiety in the face of a rising China. Distinct from the past military confrontation between China and Taiwan, more recently, Taiwanese citizens have been subject to a strengthening of cross-Strait relations and interactions, which makes their rising resistance to China puzzling. To empirically and theoretically explain why Taiwanese are resistant to closer ties with the mainland, we discuss three potential sources: cultural alienation, democratic anxiety, and economic interest. We test the effects of these three attitudinal factors on Taiwanese resistance to Chinese tourists, students, and workers using the China Impact Survey 2012 data set. The findings suggest that democratic anxiety, economic interest, and cultural alienation are all strong predictors in accounting for the public’s resistance to Chinese tourists and students, while economic interest is the most powerful factor in Taiwanese attitudes toward policies regarding Chinese workers. The findings provide important policy implications for policy makers in dealing with cross-Strait relations.

Over the past three decades, Taiwan has been struggling to gain an advantage and develop its role in Asia. This island has strived to balance its asymmetric relationship with China by engaging in regional integration in Southeast Asia and beyond. In the 1990s, the Taiwan government initiated the first wave of its Go South Policy aimed at building links at business and government levels with that region. The institutional and social legacy of the Go South Policy contributed to the making of the New Southbound Policy (NSP) which was proposed toward the end of 2015. This paper will unpack Taiwan’s presence in Southeast Asia by highlighting the international socialization process of the NSP and Taiwan’s strategic interaction with the region. It consists of four sections: the first section introduces the concept of international socialization. The second section discusses the positioning of Taiwan’s previous Go South policies. Starting with the shift from a mentality of “Taiwanese Asia” (Taiwan de yazhou, 臺灣的亞洲) to one of “Asian Taiwan” (Yazhou de Taiwan, 亞洲的臺灣), it describes in detail how Taiwan’s successive southward engagement initiatives have blended into the international socialization processes in the region. The third section highlights the relationships the policy’s key actors and stakeholders, including transnational actors, are establishing with their counterparts in Southeast Asia and the new social linkages that are currently being promoted. This includes the activities of Taiwanese residents in Southeast Asia and Southeast Asian migrants in Taiwan. The paper concludes by summarizing Taiwan’s international socialization in Asia.

This paper implements a constructivist approach from the discipline of International Relations (IR) to investigate the interplay between international politics and cyberspace, and explains why the Taiwanese government has been relatively slow to exploit cyber warfare for national-defense purposes prior to 2016. While this paper acknowledges the technology determinist’s argument that new technology can set the direction of politics, developments in Taiwan have brought to our attention a different perspective, which is that politics can still shape the future direction and use of technology. This analysis enables us to understand, through the case of Taiwan, how politics trumps both technical decisions and the overall direction of technology. Looking closely at the case of Taiwan’s cybersecurity contributes to the broader IR literature concerning the effects of norms and identities, and extends policy analysis to the domain of cyberspace. It establishes a dialogue between the IR literature and Cybersecurity Studies, and reduces the knowledge gap in understanding Taiwan’s security policy.

Xi Jinping’s rise to power has heralded a new foreign policy that is more assertive and uncompromising toward China’s neighbors, the United States, and the rest of the world. This change presents challenges for the United States and Taiwan in particular which must be addressed with a sense of urgency due to Xi Jinping’s ambitious objectives and his firm grip on the levers of power which increase the likelihood that the Communist Party and government of China will seek to achieve them without delay.

This paper reviews changes to Chinese foreign policy in the Xi Jinping era and argues how the modernization of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) over time has increased the threat to Taiwan, with concurrent risks for the United States. Taiwan and the US can address the challenge presented by China by strengthening their relationship to adapt to the new era under Xi Jinping’s leadership.

According to CIA (2018), China’s economy now stands at approximately US$12 trillion, second only to the United States (CIA [2018]. World fact book). Unlike in 1978, China’s economy today is dependent on access to globally sourced raw materials, and access to overseas consumer markets for its industrial and consumer goods. This dependency on overseas markets has increased China’s global presence and interests, driving the need to protect them. The Chinese Government’s now ample resources have been allocated to both hard and soft power means toward this purpose. The PLA has greatly benefitted from economic development and the expansion of the Chinese economy, transforming from a backward institution focused on private-sector moneymaking into the sharpest tool of China’s power and influence. Since Xi Jinping came to power in 2012, China’s foreign policy and strategy have undergone a dramatic shift away from Deng Xiaoping’s focus on increasing domestic productivity and avoiding potentially costly overseas entanglements. The confluence of accumulated national wealth, diplomatic, economic, and military power, and the will to use those levers of power, has dramatic implications for the United States and China’s neighbors. A more assertive China, confident in its wealth, power, and international status, is increasingly unafraid of overt competition with its neighbors and the United States, unwilling to back down or compromise in the face of disputes. This dynamic has resulted in a new paradigm in the Indo-Pacific region that is unlike previous challenges of the past 40 years.

The shift in China’s foreign policy and the PLA’s modernization threaten to challenge the credibility of US security assurances and alliances in the region, making the cultivation and strengthening of the US–Taiwan relationship, and the network of US bilateral alliances in the region an urgent imperative.

This paper investigates the increasing use of cyber coercion by the People’s Republic of China (PRC) among its core interests: Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the South China Sea. It argues that the PRC’s deployment of sophisticated attacks in the form of cyber coercion continues to be part of its geostrategic playbook to exert its influence and prosecute its wider interests as a rising power in the Indo-Pacific region. However, it observes that cyber coercion will be employed by the PRC in concert with all the other tools — diplomatic, economic, and the political — across the spectrum. The paper has two broad goals: first to unpack the trends or patterns in the PRC-sponsored cyber coercion by accentuating contextual and operational dimensions using Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the South China Sea as analytical case studies; second, to highlight the opportunities and limitations of using cyber coercion as an asymmetrical capability in the changing threat landscape. The paper concludes that the PRC’s cyber coercion is characterized by blurring the distinction on what constitutes compellence and deterrence. The boundaries are not clear cut, and to a certain degree both are even mutually reinforcing. The in-depth analysis of the case studies reveals the growing prominence of disinformation campaigns in close coordination with cyber operations (malware, phishing, and DDoS attack). This emboldens the PRC with a myriad of coercive strategies in shaping its external environment and realizing its ambition of national rejuvenation across Taiwan, Hong Kong, and the South China Sea.

After Japan occupied Taiwan from the Quin Dynasty in 1895, the Japanese government immediately held talks with Spain to delimit the sea boundary between Spain and Japanese Taiwan. According to the Convention between Japan and Spain in 1895, the sea boundary of both countries was in the middle of the navigable channel of Bashi. For it did not refer to the longitude and latitude, thus it resulted in confusion when the United States negotiated a peace treaty with Spain. What is the meaning of “in the middle of the navigable channel of Bashi?” In the Treaty of Paris between the United States and Spain in 1898, Spain ceded the Philippines archipelagoes to the south of 20^∘ North latitude to the United States. In fact, the Batanes Islands are located at 20–21^∘ North latitudes. Geographically, the Batanes Islands were not included in the Treaty of Paris. This paper will focus on the reasons why did not Spain cede the territory to the north of 20^∘ North latitude to the United States? And, it also discussed the problems of the legal status of the Batanes Islands and the rights of claim by Taiwan.

Based on the literature about the role of rising nationalism in recent world politics, this paper proposes a nationalism-oriented causal model to explain the voting choices of different social groups. With an interest-identity framework, this generic model is applied to Taiwan’s 2016 presidential election to examine whether and to what extent 11 causal mechanisms influence the voting choices of four groups defined by generation, class, and ethnicity. The findings not only reveal generational, class-based, and ethnic differences in Taiwanese voting behavior; they also show that the election was largely one of identity politics centered around the issues of national identity and democratic identification, making the “interest card” played by Beijing less effective in swaying voter choices. This explains why Beijing’s divide-and-conquer economic policy successfully divided Taiwanese voters but failed in the end to prevent the pro-independence candidate from winning the election. The findings also indicate that the economic concerns of voters promoted both their Taiwanese identity and support for Taiwan independence, while identification with Taiwan’s democracy contributed directly to the former and only indirectly to the latter. Overall, the model presents a more fine-grained analysis of nationalist politics and may be applied to the studies of other political behaviors involving nationalism.

The 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in October 2022 secured Xi Jinping’s third term as General Secretary and secured a team of supporters amid socioeconomic woes and increasingly hostile global circumstances. While leadership matters in all political systems, it matters much more in totalitarian and authoritarian ones. Political leaders in democracies are constrained by electoral cycles, term limits, and approval ratings, but the leaders of the PRC’s single-party system that emphasizes discipline, hierarchy, and democratic centralism operate relatively unchecked by bureaucracy, opposition forces, or public opinion. Its leaders possess the ultimate decision-making authority in national security and strategic policies (Zhao, 2022, p. 5).

The consolidation of Xi’s power has far-reaching implications for China’s foreign policy. As a feared, sycophantically revered, and ruthless emperor confident in his country’s military power and economic clout, Xi feels equipped to accomplish his mission of making China great again. He has also inherited a pervasive insecurity of pushback from Western powers that threatens his authoritarian rule. He has therefore upheld the security of the regime beyond Deng Xiaoping and his decades of prioritizing growth. Proactively stifling any opposition to his rule and cracking down on any hint of a “color revolution” at home in connection with foreign forces, Xi has strengthened the military and reorganized the economy in preparation for a possible showdown with the United States. He has required Chinese diplomats to act as “wolf warriors” in diplomatic battles and fight criticisms of the regime even at the cost of escalating international tensions. While his team of supporters has maximized his power to implement his policies, this has also prevented his colleagues from counseling against any mistakes they may anticipate or discover. Intentionally or not, he has minimized opportunities to correct his mistakes and increased the stakes and the risks they present, raising the potential for his country to become embroiled in a foreign adventure of no return.

Scholars have argued that “divided nations” (i.e., countries that have split into separate political entities) have distinct characteristics in the international system, and this model has been applied to China-Taiwan relations. Yet, despite ethnic, cultural, linguistic, and historical ties, the current state of cross-Strait relations does not resemble classic cases of the “divided nation” model such as East and West Germany, North and South Vietnam, or North and South Korea, not least because power asymmetry is a major feature of the relationship. China’s largely one-sided demands for “reunification” with Taiwan share more similarities with Germany’s approach to Austria in the 1930s. Both are cases of an aggressor state seeking to annex the territory of a smaller, sovereign neighbor based on a revanchist ideology that stems from perceived notions of “national humiliation” by outside powers and ethno-nationalist ideas of a shared blood community. Germany’s annexation of Austria in 1938 was the result of overwhelming German military power and political decision-making in the dictatorship of the Third Reich rather than ethnic, cultural, or historical ties. Germany’s invasion and occupation of Austria and the transformations of German and Austrian national identity after 1945 show that the “divided nation” model is contingent on historical and ideological subjectivities and not objective, scholarly analysis. Scholars of cross-Strait relations should approach the subject without reference to this model and instead focus on the political struggle between Chinese authoritarianism and Taiwanese democracy on the question of Taiwanese sovereignty in addition to Taiwan’s pivotal role in the great power conflict between the United States and China.

This paper examines the associations between timing, events, and nationalist sentiments among the mainland Chinese Weibo users toward Taiwan following the visit of Speaker Nancy Pelosi of the US House of Representatives on August 2, 2022. Utilizing a dataset of 4,353 Weibo comments and employing a combination of regression and interview analysis, our study has revealed several key findings: (1) Nationalist sentiments have diminished over time, and this can be attributed to an increasing immunity to Taiwan-related topics among netizens, habitual mood control, and the processing of new information. (2) Military action against Taiwanese separatists has the potential to intensify nationalist sentiments among the Chinese public, possibly due to its perceived efficacy in countering threats to the country’s sovereignty. (3) Military action’s positive association with nationalism tends to be amplified if this person is a male user. (4) Nationalist sentiments in response to political actions are more likely to diminish over time. (5) Nationalist sentiments in response to military actions tend to rise more slowly or diminish more quickly among those in the China’s Southeast (i.e., the provinces of Guangdong, Fujian, and Zhejiang). (6) The events after PLA’s military drills around Taiwan have a tendency to dampen nationalism whether people’s expectations for government action are fulfilled or not. This research supports the theories of inoculation, telic hedonism, and information utility in explaining the diminishing of nationalist sentiments among different groups. Furthermore, it validates and extends the EPPM in assessing how events interact with gender and regional factors to incite nationalist sentiments. Finally, this study highlights the potential for integrating reversal theory with Maslow’s theory of need to better understand reversals in nationalist sentiments.

This speech forecasts continued US government resolve to counter multifaceted and often very serious challenges posed by the behavior of the government of the People’s Republic of China, and accompanying greater American support for Taiwan. It explains the reasons for US resolve developed over the past six years, highlighting the role of bi-partisan majorities in Congress. It anticipates smooth continuity in the US government resolve if President Biden is reelected and some serious complications if the former President Trump is reelected, though the hardening of US policy against China will endure.

The purpose of Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) is to systematically, objectively, scientificly and comprehensively collect data, analyze infromation, predict and assess the potential environmental effects of a development proposed by a private organization or a planning strategy developed by government, to make environmental management decisions. EIA process should be transparent, reasonable and allow relevant organizations, groups, local residents and other stakeholder to participate and to make comments. The developer and competent authority should ensure that the suggestions, comments, conclusions and consensus in the EIA process be implemented in the actual construction/application stage. The Environmental Impact Assessment Act for Taiwan Region was formulated and came into force in 1994. The scope of this study is to introduce the background of formation of EIA system in Taiwan Region and the concepts and features of the EIA regulations and legislations. The problems encontered in the implementation are discussed and measures to improve EIA procedures and targets and strategies of EIA applications are suggested. The experiences and suggestions may beneficial to those developing countries in developing their own EIA system.

There are many factors affecting the performance of public projects which are reviewed by the responsible entities (Government engineering agency) and controlled by the contractors. However, responsible entities and contractors have different viewpoints to identify the primary influential factors of a project because of differences in their roles and responsibility. Sometimes these differences cause a prime source for a project's defect, schedule delay, and even lawsuit. In order to perform a project successfully, the differences in the viewpoint of these two entities must first be understood clearly. To this end, this study synthesizes possible 91 influential factors of transportation projects from Taiwan official reports. Followed by the multi-criteria evaluation procedure and fuzzy analytic hierarchy process, the primary influential factors are screened out and ranked with the priority orders. Surprisingly, there are forty co-primary factors selected by both the responsible entities and the contractors. However, it is found that the priority orders for the factors ranked by the responsible entities are somewhat different from those ranked by the contractors. The reasons why the rank orders are different between responsible entities and contractors are discussed. This is a comprehensively done research project and will be very useful for the personnel involved in oversea construction projects.

This is a retrospective study of data analyses from 201 cases with keratoconjunctivitis sicca (KCS) referred to the National Taiwan University Veterinary Hospital, Taiwan. There were 23 breeds in the study, with three most affected breeds, namely Shih-Tzu, Maltese and American cocker spaniel, making up 59.2% of the cases. Among all cases, the mean age at onset of clinical signs was eight years and one month, with no statistical difference between females and males. Clinical signs consisted mainly of corneal pigmentation, mucopurulent discharge and corneal ulceration. In contrast, Shih-Tzu and Malteses showed higher incidence of corneal ulceration. Severe corneal pigmentation occurred in Shih-Tzu. There was no significant difference in mucopurulent discharge in all breeds. The results of this study revealed interbreed differences with respect to sex, age and risks of corneal pigmentation, and corneal ulceration that have not been detailed previously in a referral population in Taiwan.

Between January 20 and April 30 of 2014, a total of 103 diarrhea cases from 47 herds in 13 counties were submitted to the Animal Health Research Institute. In 20 of the 25 herds with detail history, severe diarrhea and vomiting occurred in pigs of all ages, with mortality approaching 100% in suckling pigs. The differential etiologies, including transmissible gastroenteritis virus (TGEV), porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV), and porcine group A rotavirus (GARV), were tested by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The RT-PCR of PEDV was positive in 79 cases of 34 herds. Attempts to isolate PEDV in Vero cells revealed that only 7 specimens from 7 herds showed the cytopathic effects (CPEs) of fusion and syncytia. These CPEs were indeed caused by PEDV, as confirmed by RT-PCR, sequencing, and electron microscopy. Sequence comparisons of diarrhea samples and isolated PEDV were assayed by MEGA 5.2 software. The newly isolated PEDV/Taiwan/2014 strains were clustered in group 2 as novel PEDV, together with strains PEDV/USA/2013, PEDV/China/2011–2013, PEDV/Thailand/2007–2008, and PEDV/Korea/2008–2009, whereas the classical CV777 strain was placed in a separate group 1. These results indicated that a novel PEDV was the cause of the recent new outbreak of diarrhea in Taiwan.

Bats can serve as natural reservoirs for severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV). Investigating the prevalence of bat CoV is critical for assessing the risks of the outbreaks of emerging CoV. Chestnut bats (Scotophilus kuhlii) were captured in this study for detecting the partial RNA-dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp) gene in their feces through reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and antibodies to the nucleocapsid (N) protein of bat CoV through western blotting (WB) analysis. Three recombinant N protein fragments (N1, N2, N3) of the isolated Scotophilus bat CoV/CYCU-S1/TW/2013 were expressed by Escherichia coli. WB analyses were performed with bat serum samples and the sera of a patient who recovered from a SARS-CoV infection. Fragment N2 contained a highly conserved motif among CoVs whereas N1 and N3 protein fragments were specific to the S. kuhlii bat CoV. A total of 32 fecal and 19 serum samples were collected in Changhua County and Yunlin County during 2013 and 2014. About 17 fecal samples tested positive for the RdRp gene with an overall prevalence of 53%. Sequences comparison showed that the Scotophilus bat CoV isolates in Taiwan belonged to the genus Alphacoronavirus and were closest to Scotophilus bat CoV/Hainan/China/2005 and Diliman1552G1/Philippines/2008, followed by porcine epidemic diarrhea coronavirus. Only one bat serum sample reacted positively to all 3N protein fragments. Cross-reactivity was observed between N2 protein fragment and the sera of a patient recovered from a SARS-CoV infection. The results indicated that Scotophilus bat CoV was circulating endemically in chestnut bat population in Taiwan.

Bats are the natural reservoirs of severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus (SARS-CoV). Six Alphacoronavirus and five Betacoronavirus have been detected in many bat species, including SARS-related CoV and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS)-related CoV. In Taiwan, SARS-related CoV, belonging to Betacoronavirus, has been detected in Rhinolophus monoceros. Scotophilus bat CoV-512, belonging to Alphacoronavirus, has been detected in Scotophilus kuhlii, Miniopterus fuliginosus, and Rhinolophus monoceros by using reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). To understand the infection history of CoV in these three insectivorous bat populations, CoV-specific antibodies were surveyed by using western blot (WB) analysis and indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The carboxyl terminal fragment of nucleocapsid protein (N3) of SARS-CoV and Scotophilus bat CoV-512 were used as the antigen in the assays. Of the 52 serum samples obtained from Scotophilus kuhlii, 29 samples (56%) were tested positive for Scotophilus bat CoV-512-specific antibodies through ELISA. Of the 63 serum samples obtained from Rhinolophus monoceros, 9 samples were tested positive for only SARS-CoV-specific antibodies, 7 samples were tested positive for only Scotophilus bat CoV-512-specific antibodies, and 16 samples (25.4%) were tested positive for both antibodies through WB analysis. Only 1 of 18 Miniopterus bat serum samples tested positive for Scotophilus bat CoV-512-specific antibodies through ELISA. Lactating female bats had higher positive rates of CoV-specific antibodies than non-lactating female and male bats did. Our findings were crucial for understanding CoV infection history in three insectivorous bat species and important for the control of bat-borne zoonosis diseases.

We measure the amenity values of climate and air quality in Taiwan using the two-step hedonic price method (HPM). Separate hedonic housing price equations, one for each of three metropolitan areas that represent respective housing markets in Northern, Central, and Southern Taiwan, are estimated. We find evidence of a significant impact of climate and air quality on housing prices. As expected, residents in Taiwan prefer a warmer winter, cooler summer, lower humidity, and better air quality. Based on the results of the housing price regression, we compute implicit prices for environmental amenities, and then pool observations from all three metropolitan areas to estimate the demand for environmental amenities. The estimated demand functions for environmental amenities are used to evaluate the benefits and losses from changes in climate and air quality in Taiwan. Our results show that, compared to the benefits of a higher temperature in January, the losses from the rise in temperature in July are much higher in such a way that global warming is resulting in significant net losses in Taiwan. The area-specific welfare analysis in this study will help in informing climate change policy formulation and decision-making in Taiwan.

Conflicts among nation states have led to violence, bloodshed and war. Although the conflicts can be explained by national, racial and cultural reasons, we argue that conflicts arising from sovereignty and territorial disputes are socially constructed. People take whatever they have been taught or brought up as right. If people do not give in to something they have taken for granted, then conflicts arise. This paper explains conflicts among nations and suggests a solution from human agency theory. More specifically, it formulates a theory of one-globe reality from Weber–Thomas–Berger's social construction perspective to resolve the Taiwan Strait conflict. The theory calls for both mainland China and Taiwan to learn global oneness and unlearn narrowly scoped concepts of nationalism and patriotism to achieve peace in the region.

Taiwan is a major hub of the global supply chains and one of the leading investors not only in China but also in other Southeast Asian markets. Although high trade complementary, bilateral trade between South Asia and Taiwan is only about US$ 9 billion, investment has only picked up recently. The computable general equilibrium (CGE) analysis indicates a substantial economic benefit of bilateral tariffs elimination between Taiwan and its South Asian partners. Taiwan has a substantial comparative advantage in producing high tech manufacturing goods while in South Asian’s main strength is in the resource-based agricultural and light manufacturing sector. Taiwan has been maintained a liberalized trade regime with minimal import tariffs and non-tariff measures (NTM) over the decades. As South Asia is booming, and Taiwan is seeking alternative markets and investments opportunities, it is time to deepen a bilateral economic relationship. South Asia is a market of 1.5 billion people with an emerging middle class along with substantial cheaper labor forces, made an ideal place for investment. A comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA) with a preferential trade and investment agreement would be useful to attract Taiwanese multinationals and seamless trade between South Asia and Taiwan.

Globalization has led to intense demand for diverse, multi-talent, and creative workforce to sustain market competitiveness, innovation, and corporate performance, while simultaneously intensifying challenges for higher education to transform. In Taiwan, universities have responded by formalizing and continuously restructuring their overall systems to cultivate creative talents for sustainable growth. The study has examined the practices that enable creative education at the National Chengchi University (NCCU) using data from different sources, i.e., semi-structured interviews, content analysis, and personal observations. Current findings suggest that creative education at NCCU is characterized by supporting environment and resources; interdisciplinary faculty teams; innovative HR practices for student recruitment; rich course content focused on students’ holistic development; teaching methods based on students’ experience, interaction, and teamwork; and conducive environment for creative learning.

Many homeless do not use the services provided by the government. This article discusses the reasons for this phenomenon based on a survey conducted in 2016. After receiving training, students interviewed 150 homeless in Taichung City with a structured questionnaire. The questions asked the homeless if they had used 14 different services provided by the local government. Many homeless expressed their desire for other services that were not provided by the government. Together with the reasons for not using the services, we suggest a better design of the government services for the Taiwanese homeless, such as improved accessibility, awareness of services, and housing which have been implemented in many countries since the 1990s.

This paper reviews the flexible notion of Chinese citizenship and compares the teaching and learning of citizenship in Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan in recent decades. Collectively called the “three Chinas,” each of the societies has its own political history and ruling ideology, even if they all are identified as Confucius-heritage societies. Each society, however, has also endured significant social, economic, and/or political changes in the past three decades or so and they currently represent three distinct stages of democratization and corresponding phases of educational reforms. In what ways does the present-day citizenship education in each of the societies reflect her political history and identity and differ from each other in curriculum priorities and pedagogical practices? In what sense is there commonness in the conceptualization and teaching of citizenship across these Chinese societies? After a review of literature, we present preliminary findings of a primary survey conducted in December 2013 of secondary school teachers who teach the subject of political and citizenship education, as well as college students in-training to teach the subject. In the analysis, we also compare current findings to similar empirical research done in the recent past, both in China as well as in Hong Kong and Taiwan, to gauge the degree of continuity and change in the meanings of “good” citizenship, and practice of citizenship education in each society as viewed by subject teachers.