November 2018 | Vol. 48 | Issue 11 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE IN TAIPEI IN OF COMMERCE THE AMERICAN CHAMBER TAIWAN BUSINESS TOPICS TAIWAN Taiwan’s November 2018 | Vol. 48 | Issue 11 Vol. 2018 | November New Residents INDUSTRY FOCUS 中 華 郵 政 北 台 字 第 EDUCATION BACKGROUNDER STATE-OWNED ENTERPRISES 號 執 照 登 記 為 雜 誌 交 寄 Published by the American Chamber Of NT$150 Commerce In Taipei Read TOPICS Online at topics.amcham.com.tw 11_2018_Cover.indd 1 2018/11/5 下午1:12 CONTENTS NEWS AND VIEWS 6 Editorial Championing the Drive for Liver Health NOVEM BER 2018 VOLUM E 48, NUM BER 11 導 一年一月 7 Taiwan Briefs By Don Shapiro Publisher 發行人 William Foreman 維 11 Issues Editor-in-Chief 總 Aiming to Serve Foreign Investors; Don Shapiro For Faster Regulatory Treatment Associate Editor 主 Tim Ferry 法 for Medical Devices Art Director/ 主任/ 力務資人加 Production Coordinator 後 管適用請 Katia Chen 陳國 Manager, Publications Sales & Marketing 廣告行經 By Don Shapiro Caroline Lee Translation 翻 Kevin Chen, Yichun Chen AMCHAM EVENT 陳又, 陳 14 Taiwan Liver Health Forum America n Chamb er of Commerce in Taipei 1 2 9 MinSheng East Road , Sect ion 3 , 7 F, Suite 7 0 6 , Taipei 1 0 5 9 6 , Taiw an P .O. Box 1 7 - 2 7 7 , Taipei, 1 0 4 1 9 Taiw an Tel: 2 7 1 8 - 8 2 2 6 Fax: 2 7 1 8 - 8 1 8 2 e- mail: amch am@ amch am.co m.tw COVER SECTION w eb site: http://w w w .amch am.co m.tw 名台國會工 發行所台國會 Taiwan's New Residents 105生10 話2718-8226 真2718-8182 Taiwan Business Topics is a publication of the American 16 Taiwan Embraces Southeast Chamber of Commerce in Taipei, ROC. Contents are independent of and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Asian Immigration Officers, Board of Governors, Supervisors or members. © Copyright 2018 by the American Chamber of Commerce in 台灣擁抱東南亞移民 Taipei, ROC. All rights reserved. Permission to reprint original material must be requested in writing from AmCham. Production done in-house, Printing by Farn Mei Printing Co., Ltd. The recent influx of immigrants 台第一 from ASEAN nations dovetails 所有公司 經台灣文 台108台長66 with the Tsai administration’s New 發行期中國一年一月 中台第5000為 Southbound Policy. ISSN 1818-1961 撰文／傅長壽 By Matthew Fulco Chairman/ Alb ert Chang V ic e Chairmen/ Leo Seew ald , V inc ent Shih Sec retary : Fupei W ang 20 Taiwan Attracting Fewer Treasurer: C.W . Chin Chinese Immigrants 2 0 1 7 - 2 0 1 8 G ov ernors: Alb ert Chang , W illiam Farrell, Rev ital G olan, Tim Ju, 經濟發展快速 中國移民台灣人 Seraphim Ma, Leo Seew ald , V inc ent Shih. 數減少 2 0 1 8 - 2 0 1 9 G ov ernors: Anita Chen, C.W . Chin, Ed w ard Shob er, Joanne Tsai, D aniel Tseng , Fupei W ang . Given the tepid economy and tensions in relations with Beijing, 2 0 1 8 Superv isors: P etra Jumpers, Joy c e Lee, Timothy Shield s. the island is no longer a magnet COMMITTEES: for cross-Strait marriages. Ag ro- Chemic al/ Melod y W ang ; Asset Manag ement/ 撰文／傅長壽 Christine Jih, D erek Y ung ; Bank ing / P aulus Mok ; Capital By Matthew Fulco Mark ets/ Nad ia Chen, Mand y Huang , C.P . Liu; Chemic al Manuf ac turers/ Charles Liang , Mic hael W ong ; Cosmetic s/ 23 Meet Some New Taiwanese Shirley Chen, Julien Jac q uet, Ab ig ail Lin; CSR/ Lume Liao, Fupei W ang ; Energ y / Rand y Tsai; Human Resourc es/ By Courtney Donovan Smith V ic k ie Chen, Ric hard Lin, Monic a Han, Seraphim Ma; Inf rastruc ture/ W ay ne Chin, P aul Lee; Insuranc e/ D an Ting , Lind a Tsou, D y lan Ty son; Intellec tual P roperty & Lic ensing / Jason Chen, P eter D ernb ac h, V inc ent Shih; Mark eting & D istrib ution/ W ei Hsiang ; Med ic al D ev ic es/ THE VIEW FROM ABROAD Rag hav end ra Shenoy , Joanne Y ao; P harmac eutic al/ P etra Jumpers, W end y Lin, Lai Li P ang ; P ub lic Health/ Joy c e Lee, 25 Organized Sleepwalking Sophia Lee, Tim Shield s; Real Estate/ Tony Chao; Retail/ Ceasar Chen, Mark Chen, P rud enc e Jang ; Sustainab le A day in the life of a Taiwan-based D ev elopment/ Kenny Jeng , Cosmas Lu, Kernel W ang ; Tax/ Stella Lai, Cheli Liaw , Josephine P eng ; Tec hnolog y / Cy nthia Swiss lawyer in Cambridge, Mas- Chy n, Rev ital G olan, Hans Huang ; Telec ommunic ations & Med ia/ Thomas Ee, Joanne Tsai; Transportation & sachusetts. Log istic s/ ( tb a) ; Trav el & Tourism/ P auline Leung , Ac him v . By Nathan Kaiser Hak e. 4 TAIWAN BUSINESS TOPICS • NOVEMBER 2018 11 contents.indd 4 2018/11/5 下午5:42 NOVEMBER 2018 • VOLUME 48 NUMBER 11 BACKGROUNDER 28 Privatization Effort Slows to a Crawl Thirty-nine state enterprises have been converted into private companies since 1989. The next stage will be the most difficult. By Philip Liu TAIWAN BUSINESS 46 Pivoting to Technical Textiles Companies are seeking to avoid the low-margin trap by moving into this technically demanding segment of the industry. By Jens Kastner 48 Taiwan’s Functional Fabrics are a Winner By Philip Liu SPONSORED CONTENT 50 IRPMA Sharing the Risk of the Healthcare Cost Burden 52 Taiwan Tourism Bureau: INDUSTRY Seeing Taiwan F CUS A REPORT ON THE EDUCATION SECTOR Approaches to Learning 34 Falling Population Squeezes 39 A Growing Need for Taiwan’s Universities Continuing Education Foreign students can help boost In developed, knowledge-based enrollment, but some reduction in economies, the benefits of a “learn- the number of schools seems inevi- ing society” take on added impor- table. tance. By Matthew Fulco By Wujun Ke 41 The Intersection of Adult 36 Taking a Different Approach Education and Social Work to Learning By Wujun Ke Taiwan’s experimental schools Taking Life Slowly in the Hills of seek to develop highly motivated 42 Living through Language Miaoli students who can think for them- The government is making a strong 54 Bayer Taiwan selves. effort to preserve Taiwan’s endan- Learning from the Younger Genera- By Kathy Chen gered languages so as to maintain tion a multicultural society. By Benjamin Parker TAIWAN BUSINESS TOPICS • NOVEMBER 2018 5 11 contents.indd 5 2018/11/5 下午1:13 E D I T O R I A L Championing the Drive for Liver Health n its section of AmCham Taipei’s 2018 Taiwan White standing cooperation between the United States and Taiwan in Paper, the Chamber’s Public Health Committee encour- the fight against hepatitis. He paid tribute to Dr. Baruch Blum- I aged Taiwan to adopt the goal of developing itself into a berg (1925-2011) of the U.S. National Institutes of Health and “Liver Health Center of Excellence in Asia.” Taiwan, after all, to Dr. R. Palmer Beasley (1936-2012), a University of Wash- has a strong background in combating diseases of the liver, ington epidemiologist who spent 15 years in Taiwan affiliated which are particularly prevalent in the Asian region. As far with the U.S. Naval Medical Research facility. Blumberg, a back as the 1980s, Taiwan played a pioneering role in intro- Nobel laureate in medicine in 1976, was the first to iden- ducing a national hepatitis B vaccination program that has tify the hepatitis B virus and later developed its diagnostic test been highly successful in bringing the malady under control and vaccine. He visited Taiwan frequently and was elected in this country. Currently the government is taking aim at as an honorary academician of Academia Sinica. Building on eradicating hepatitis C, and has devoted increased budget to Blumberg’s work, Beasley’s research provided proof of the screening and treatment programs. transmission of hepatitis B from mother to infant – paving the Last month the Public Health Committee’s idea was way for the vaccination program that has enabled that chain carried a step further when AmCham Taipei joined forces to be broken. with the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) and the In opening remarks for the Forum, AIT Director W. Brent Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) to sponsor a half- Christensen also noted the U.S. connection, noting that Amer- day Taiwan Liver Health Forum featuring presentations by ican pharmaceutical and biotech companies have been at leading specialists in the healthcare community. Taiwan’s the forefront of developing advanced technologies that are Vice President, Chen Chien-jen – an epidemiologist by contributing to the fight against hepatitis. He also emphasized training and an expert in hepatitis research – delivered the that Taiwan has an opportunity to serve as a model for the keynote address. rest of Asia through its efforts to control liver diseases before Many of the speakers and panelists emphasized the impor- those conditions develop into deadly liver cancer. tance of increasing the amount of screening to detect the AmCham Taipei is proud to be among those taking a presence of the hepatitis C virus, since drugs with a high rate leading role in the liver health initiative and to help in show- of effectiveness are now available. Although the initial cost of casing Taiwan’s achievements in this field and its continuing such a program may be steep, over time the program would contributions through clinical research. As long-term corpo- more than pay for itself as rates of infection decline and rate citizens of Taiwan, our member companies have a strong productivity is enhanced.