About Don Shapiro
Don Shapiro is Editor-in-Chief of Taiwan Business TOPICS and Senior Director of the AmCham Taipei. Before joining the AmCham staff in 2002, he was president of the Trade Winds publishing company and Taiwan correspondent for Time Inc.
The Breadth of Bilateral Cooperation
Don Shapiro/ April 24, 2019 June 4, 2019 /Leave a comment
The absence of diplomatic ties hasn't deterred the establishment of collaboration in a host of different fields. During this commemoration year for the Taiwan Relations Act, Taiwan and the U.S. can take satisfaction from knowing that 40 years and the loss of formal diplomatic relations haven't dimmed the deep-seated friendship and widespread cooperation between them….
The Rehfeldt Group's Deep Roots in Taiwan
Don Shapiro/ April 22, 2019 April 23, 2019 /Leave a comment
While in Asia in the fall of 1964, American businessman Edward J. Rehfeldt Jr. decided to make a stop in Taipei at the invitation of a friend. Before the visit was over, he had agreed to set up an electronics components factory in one of the first foreign investments on the island. In the more…
The Taiwan Relations Act, the Linchpin of Taiwan's Relations with the U.S.
Don Shapiro/ April 17, 2019 May 17, 2019 /Leave a comment
AmCham Taipei played a key supportive role when formal diplomatic ties ended 40 years ago. Forty years ago, it seemed inevitable to many that Washington would eventually establish diplomatic ties with Beijing. But one of the big unknowns was how this monumental shift would affect Taiwan. Before President Jimmy Carter finally announced the switch on…
Providing Leadership at a Time of Crisis
AmCham also worked closely with the Taiwan government in 1979 to preserve – or refashion – important expat community institutions. The U.S. decision in late 1978 to cut diplomatic relations with Taiwan suddenly put at risk the ability of various American community institutions in Taipei to continue operating. Those entities' legal status in Taiwan had…
Taiwan Economic Outlook – March 2019
Don Shapiro/ March 25, 2019 March 12, 2019 /Leave a comment
Growth Forecasts Cut "The economy is losing steam, but is not in a recessionary state," Minister Chu Tzer-ming of the Directorate General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics told a mid-February news conference. He reported that DGBAS is now forecasting GDP growth for Taiwan of 2.27% this year, down from the 2.41% it was predicting last…
Taiwan Life in Brief – March 2019
2019 Lantern Festival Spotlights Pingtung This year's national lantern festival was hosted by the southern county of Pingtung and held in the national scenic area of Dapeng Bay. The event highlighted the foods, products, and landscape of Pingtung. Normally the main lantern features the animal on the Chinese zodaic for which the year is named…
Taiwan Government and International – March 2019
U.S. Senators Invite Tsai to Address Congress A group of U.S. senators has called for President Tsai Ing-wen to address a joint session of the U.S. Congress — a proposal that drew a characteristically cautious, non-committal response from the Taiwanese leader. The senators said having the Taiwanese leader speak to Congress would be consistent with…
Conducting an Annual Dialogue
Don Shapiro/ February 26, 2019 February 22, 2019 /Leave a comment
Part of President Tsai Ing-wen's vision for the New Southbound Policy was for Taiwan to host an annual conference of thought leaders from the target countries to provide guidance regarding regional concerns and how the New Southbound Policy could best address them. Organizing the event – to be held each year on October 11 and…
Going South to do Agricultural Training
Back in the 1950s and 1960s, when Taiwan needed support in the international community to hold onto its seat in the United Nations, one of its most effective means of winning friends abroad was through agriculture. Numerous teams of agricultural technicians were dispatched to developing countries, especially in Africa, to teach farmers techniques for increasing…
Taiwan Life in Brief – February 2019
Another Chapter in NTU Presidency Saga It appeared in December that the prolonged standoff between National Taiwan University and the Ministry of Education over the NTU faculty's election of economist Kuan Chung-ming as university president had finally been resolved. Education Minister Yeh Jiunn-rong, who was moved over from the Interior Ministry specifically to bring the…