Taiwanese firms fazed by trade war concerns in China

Some Taiwanese firms with China operations have transferred their manufacturing hubs to Southeast Asia.

Minister of economic affairs Shen Jong-chin said that Taiwanese firms may exit China amidst the escalating trade war concerns, CNA reported.

Moreover, lesser Taiwan firms are employing advice from the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) about doing business in China which may suggest that Taiwanese businesses are eyeing other business prospects.

Inquiries related to China investment decreased to 40% from around 60-70% of the total inquiries received by the ministry from January to August. The MOEA’s Investment Commission noted that 60% of the inquiries they have received for the period were about investing in Southeast Asia.

The study also found that firms with businesses related to bicycle, electronics, and textile could be struck the most by the ongoing US-China trade wars. Meanwhile, they noted that Taiwanese firms doing business related to machinery, petrochemical, and steel firms are unlikely to be hit by the trade tensions.

Major Taiwanese bicycle firm Giant had already announced that they will open a manufacturing hub in Europe to decrease its reliance on China. Meanwhile, some Taiwanese electronic firms are ditching their manufacturing hubs in China and transferring it to Southeast Asia.

According to a report by CNA, some Taiwanese bicycle and electronics firms have stepped up or relaunched manufacturing activities in Taiwan whilst others are on the lookout for the effects of the trade war.

Reaching the people who run Asia's businesses is harder than it used to be.

Inboxes are crowded. Attention is short. The executives you most want to reach — the founders, CFOs, and operators who actually move budgets — are the hardest to find through the usual channels. If you're building a company, a category, or a reputation, you already know this.

We've spent twenty years building the room they read. Singapore Business Review is where senior decision makers in Singapore and across Southeast Asia come for business coverage they can't get elsewhere — in print, online, and in person at the summits and roundtables we host across seven markets.

If you have something these readers should know about — a point of view worth publishing, a product worth their attention, an event worth their time — we'd like to hear what you're trying to do.

Book a meeting

| Or download the media kit (PDF)

240,000 senior readers quarterly in print Top 1,700 Singapore companies reached

7 markets across Southeast Asia