Part 1 – The Beginning
Formative catalysts, founding and the first year (click here to see PDF with photos)
Introduction
On 26 January 1988, the ECCT held its first annual general meeting at the Bankers Club on Minsheng East Road, marking the formal launch of the chamber. This was the culmination of around 15 months of preparatory meetings and administrative groundwork. Conditions were very favourable for the establishment of a European chamber of commerce in the late 1980s for a number of reasons, although three stand out. Firstly, European companies had been much slower after WWII than their US competitors to begin investing in Taiwan (with a few exceptions). However, by the late 1970s and early 1980s, traders and entrepreneurs from Europe were becoming increasingly active in Taiwan, albeit as British, Dutch, French or German rather than identifying themselves as European. Secondly, as their businesses developed, many of these companies found themselves more and more at a disadvantage vis-à-vis their American and Japanese competitors who were already well established, more numerous, better organised and had the political support of their governments, all of whom had far more influence with the ROC government than any individual European country. Finally, there was an increasing sense of ‘European-ness' in the business community, whereby national rivalries became less important than the need to compete in the global market and a there was an increasing desire to work together as Europeans.
Business environment in the 1980s
In the 1980s, the environment for business in Taiwan was generally good and it became increasingly better after martial law was lifted in 1987. As the ECCT's first chairman, John Brinsden put it, "As a small island with few natural resources Taiwan recognised the need to establish trading relations relationships with the west and generally welcomed foreign business people – provided one played the game by their rules! For Europeans, however, it was generally more difficult than for Americans and Japanese. With the exception of those that were familiar with Chinese culture, many found it hard to acclimatise (and many just gave up!) But the common problem was the difficulty of establishing Europe as a serious alternative against the hidden barriers of protectionism, tariffs, quotas, bilateral treaties and all the other paraphernalia of special relationships that favoured the long entrenched Americans and Japanese. The successful Europeans were those who had managed to establish their individual ‘brands' rather than their origins". Thus, in the European business community, there was a realization that their interests could be best served by establishing a European business chamber.
European presence in Taiwan in the 1980s
The ECCT presented its first position papers to the government in 1994. The papers were presented to PK Chiang (MoEA Minister at the time) at a dinner to discuss the regional operations concept and to Vice Premier Hsu Liteh at a dinner on 31 March. That dinner was also attended by Vincent Siew (CEPD Minister at the time) and PK Chiang. Papers included submissions from the Construction, Transportation, Banking, Marketing and Distribution committees. The Banking committee's paper gave proposals on how to promote Taiwan as a Regional Financial Centre.
The origins of the ECCT – how it all got started
In the mid-eighties, there was talk of starting a chamber but the first actual move was taken by the wife of the German manager of a German company operating in Taiwan. She had approached Hugues Mignot (then head of the Belgian Trade Office in Taipei) for a job and he suggested that she start a European Chamber of Commerce. She picked up the idea and called a preparatory meeting in the Bankers Club (a prestigious institution in Taipei at the time). The first meeting to discuss founding a chamber was held on 30 September 1986. It was attended by 49 business people. It took another 15 months or so before the formal procedures were settled. The inaugural general meeting was eventually held on 26 January 1988.
The first board elected at that meeting had nine directors and two alternate directors including Chairman John Brinsden, Vice Chairman Alex MacKinnon, Treasurer, DJ Bonnerman and Ruby Hsiao, Secretary to the Board. A board of three supervisors and one alternate supervisor was also elected, headed by Executive Supervisor W Diggelman. Eight trade representatives attended the inaugural meeting from the UK, Switzerland, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Spain and Greece. Germany was absent and remained so for the first three years.
The first Secretary General of the secretariat was Stefaan Missinne and there was an initial staff of five. The official opening of the chamber, the second European chamber of commerce to be established outside Europe (after the Philippines) was marked by a lunch and ribbon-cutting ceremony on 22 September 1988. The event was attended by senior government officials including Kua An-hsu, Vice Minister of Economic Affairs.
Teething problems
Setting up a European chamber was a little difficult at first because there was no legal precedent and no regulations under which a chamber could be established. The only other chamber in existence at the time, AmCham, had been established unofficially in 1951, when Taiwan and mainland China were still technically at war. Many potential members were not prepared to join the ECCT unless it had legal status. Moreover, the chamber's founders were wary of contravening the secret society laws in force at the time. Therefore, from the start the founders were adamant that the chamber should be set up legally or not at all. Thus began the long process of establishing the legal and administrative framework that would satisfy the government and the chamber's founders. During this time of statutory limbo, although the ECCT had no official recognition, various senior officials attended the chamber's functions in their personal capacities, which gave the founders the chance to show that we were strictly non-threatening and indeed could bring real benefits to the ROC in acting as a bridge with the European business community. Finally legislation was passed to enable foreign business associations to be recognized, as a result of which both the ECCT (and later AmCham) eventually received official sanction in 1988.
Pan European approach
From the beginning, a pan-European approach was adopted to represent all national interests.
As John Brinsden wrote in the first issue of Euroview, "The chamber firmly believes in a multilateral approach to trade for we have all laboured too long under the distortions and inefficiencies brought about by protectionism, tariffs, quotas, bilateral treaties and special relationships."
It took a while for all Europeans to recognize the need for or value of the European chamber for various reasons. Certain British companies were already loosely affiliated in the form of a lunch club, which they wanted to keep going. Moreover, certain members of that club, upon noticing that the ECCT was becoming successful, wanted to set up their own chamber. Meanwhile, the German companies, who by instinct would have been willing participants, were already compelled by statute to be members of their own national chamber. This would not change until the early 1990s, when Jürgen John, who later became the first German ECCT chairman, broke ranks to join the ECCT, inspiring other German firms to join the chamber.
In the beginning there was a strong ambivalence from the trade offices towards the setting up of an association claiming to represent European business. While some such as the Belgian Trade Office were always supportive, others were wary of the ECCT usurping their role. To overcome this, trade offices were invited to participate in meetings in order to foster mutual understanding and trust. Over time this developed into active cooperation in a number of areas.
One of the main reasons that the ECCT was successful was because there were no pre-existing national European chambers (except the German chamber, which filled the role of trade office). This was unlike in many other countries where national chambers are very strong and moves to start a European chamber were often resisted. The chamber also made a concerted effort to get European national trade offices on board by inviting them to meetings and even to join the board of directors. Hugues Mignot from the Belgium Trade Office became the first European trade office representative to be elected to the ECCT's Board of Directors in 1989.
The first year
John Brinsden describes the chambers' first year as an 'official' association as a "halcyon time compared to the disorder and blind alleys of the preceding period". The recruitment of a full time Secretary General and the strong mandate given to the board by the membership at the Inaugural General Meeting in January 1988, provided the catalyst for the year ahead.
In the space of the first year, there were a number of remarkable achievements. There was a sharp rise in individual membership from 52 at inauguration to 210 by the end of the first year. The chamber established its first permanent office on the 12th floor of the World Trade Building (at the time located at 50 Shinsheng South Road). The chamber also began to hold regular events, such as monthly lunches. The first events were wine tasting dinners or lunches at which overseas visitors in town were invited to give speeches. Later, the chamber began to invite government officials to be guest speakers at its events. Members regarded these gatherings as valuable occasions for networking since there were very few such-like opportunities at the time. Early monthly lunches would attract 30-50 people.
The chamber's bi-monthly magazine Euroview was launched in October 1988 to collect and publish members' views. The name originally suggested for the magazine YourView since it was aimed at publishing the views of the members rather than the committees, but the original idea quickly morphed to Euroview, a name which has been kept ever since. Even though martial law had been lifted in Taiwan, publishing a magazine with independent opinions at the time was still a novelty. While there wasn't any actual censorship of Euroview, the chamber was nevertheless very careful about what was published and never published articles of a sensitive or political nature. By the end of the first year the chamber had set up five committees and had taken up a number of issues of particular concern to members. These included non-discrimination in public project procurement, labour relations, pollution and the environment, conflict and discrimination in investment relations, restrictions of operations of foreign airlines particularly in airport access, freight congestion and the wine and tobacco monopoly. While success was limited in the early stages, it was the first time issues had been raised and marked the start to what eventually became a real dialogue with the government.
The beginning of the ECCT's advocacy efforts
The chamber's first advocacy efforts took the form of friendly meetings between members and the government, often also attended by European trade office representatives. The chamber also worked hard on the social side through regular lunches with high profile guest speakers and various national day celebrations in which the ECCT played a subsidiary role to the trade offices. This was calculated to project a softer, friendlier image and, as a result, more and more senior officials, including the President of the ROC, later became willing guests. The ECCT was a co-sponsor and organizer of the first Vienna Ball, which was held at the Lai Lai Sheraton hotel on 24 September 1988 (two days after the official opening ceremony of the chamber). 350 guests attended.
Since the beginning, the ECCT established an excellent working relationship with AmCham as there were many issues of mutual interest and a number of joint meetings were held which produced common position papers. This was particularly effective in the banking and finance sectors and to this day, the ECCT and AmCham still maintain a joint Banking committee.
The first major issue the chamber raised was to call upon the ROC government to open bidding on major government procurement projects to European bidders. A letter was sent to senior government officials making the case that "Europe offers a range of products and technology equal to and in many cases surpassing those available elsewhere and we firmly believe that only by opening public tenders to free competition will the Republic of China receive the best and most advantageous deal."
The CEPD chairman at the time, Frederick Chen, sent a courteous and frank response on behalf of the Prime Minister stating that "the ROC is in principle committed to an open market philosophy and welcomes competition from European and other free-world countries in supplying its needs."
Conclusion
By the end of the ECCT's first year, the chamber had recruited 210 members, set up a permanent office and secretariat, established five committees, launched its own magazine and started regular dialogue with the government. A solid foundation had been built for the expansion of activities and influence over the next quarter of a century.
Part 2 – 1989-1998
- The formative years (click here to see PDF with photos)
Introduction
After the excitement of the ECCT's first year, the next decade was marked by a steady rise in the chamber's activities, reputation and influence. During the first decade, the chamber's activities and organisation became more structured and regular. The chamber's ability to gain access to senior government officials marked the beginning of the chamber's friendly and cooperative government relations, which laid the foundation for a successful advocacy track-record in later years. Besides regular government meetings, the chamber's activities became more structured with the introduction of Monthly Lunches and the annual Europe Day Dinner. During the early years, the ECCT's committees became more organized. Industry issues were identified, formulated and by 1994 committees began to write and submit position papers. The chamber's organizational structure also evolved and expanded during the first decade. In the early years, the chairman and board directors played the role of steering as well as running activities. The expansion of the secretariat gradually eased the administrative burden on the chairman and board and the appointment of the first CEO in 1995 allowed for the expansion of activities including ties with the European Union through the annual Open Door Mission to Brussels.
Government relations developments
Since the early days, the ECCT managed to gain access to the most senior government officials, including cabinet ministers. The chamber's first meeting with a sitting premier was in October 1990 with then Premier Hau Pei-tsun. Meetings with the premier were subsequently held annually after that first meeting while meetings with cabinet ministers and working level officials were frequently arranged. The chamber's first event with a sit ting president was when President Lee Tenghui at tended the annual dinner on Europe Day in 1991 (the event was not yet called the Europe Day Dinner), held on the actual Europe Day (9 May) in that year. In his speech at that event President Lee called for greater trade and welcomed European involvement in the government's six-year National Development Plan encompassing infrastructure (traditional and metro-railways, power plants, roads and highways).
Position Papers
The ECCT presented its first position papers to the government in 1994. The papers were presented to PK Chiang (MoEA Minister at the time) at a dinner to discuss the regional operations concept and to Vice Premier Hsu Liteh at a dinner on 31 March. That dinner was also attended by Vincent Siew (CEPD Minister at the time) and PK Chiang. Papers included submissions from the Construction, Transportation, Banking, Marketing and Distribution committees. The Banking committee's paper gave proposals on how to promote Taiwan as a Regional Financial Centre.
First Open Door Mission to Brussels
Besides relations with the Taiwan government, the chamber maintained good relations with European trade offices in Taipei since its inception. These relations were expanded to include direct contact with the European Commission in 1995 with the chamber's first Open Door Mission to Brussels in September 1995. During that trip the delegation met with European Commission Vice President Sir Leon Brittan and Commissioner Dr Martin Bangermann. The second Open Door Mission took place on 20-21 October 1997 and was led by Paul Scholten, who later became ECCT Chairman. The Open Door Mission has since become a regular fixture on the chamber's annual calendar.
Major events
The Europe Day Dinner
In 1989, the ECCT celebrated Europe Day on the actual Europe Day (9 May) although the event at the time was called the "annual dinner". The event was first referred to as the Europe Day Dinner in 1995 (the name it has gone by ever since). 200 guests at tended the 1989 dinner with guest of honour Ministry of Economic Affairs (MoEA) Minister Dr Chen Li-an. (Vincent Siew took over as MoEA minister later in the same year). President Lee Teng-hui was the guest of honour at the 1991 dinner and again in 1996 and 1998. In 1995 Lien Chan, Premier & concurrently Vice President at the time, was the guest of honour. Lien was the guest of honour again in 1997.
Besides becoming the ECCT's largest annual business networking event, the dinner has always also served as a fundraising effort for the chamber's CSR programme. The ECCT's commitment to the local community was demonstrated in its very first year. The very first gala dinner organized by the chamber after its foundation in 1988 was a charity gala evening that raised over NT$3 million for the Cardiac Children's Foundation of the Republic of China, an association for children with heart defects. With fewer than 200 individual members at that time this was a remarkable achievement. The tradition was continued in subsequent years. For example, NT$500,000 from the proceeds of the 1994 Europe Day Dinner were donated to the ROC Talent Development Association for the disabled. The 1996 Europe Day Dinner donation went to the SOS Children's village in Chungli. For the past 13 years, the ECCT has donated a portion of proceeds to the Syin Lyu Foundation.
Monthly Lunches
The first decade saw the launch and continuation of regular monthly lunches featuring a prominent guest from government or business. The primary aim of the Monthly Lunch was to bring together members on a regular basis to hear insights from an interesting guest. This signature activity provided networking opportunities, which were rare in Taipei at the time, and helped to boost the chamber's status and influence in the foreign business and broader community.
Committee developments
During the first decade of the chamber's existence, the ECCT's committees became better organized. They began to hold regular meetings with government agencies and later began to prepare annual position papers (the first position papers were prepared in 1994).
In 1989, the financial committee was split into three entities, which remain in operation to this day. The banking and financial services committee was renamed simply "banking" and the Insurance and Securities (today known as Asset Management) committees were spun off into two separate entities. By August 1991 the Education committee had been discontinued, leaving seven committees. By December 1992, the chamber had added a Communications committee, bringing the number of committees to eight in total.
The Greater China committee was set up on 22 June 1993 in recognition of Taiwan's growing ties to China (the ROC had become the second largest foreign investor in China). The committee was set up for members to share information and exchange views and experience about business opportunities in Greater China, Taiwan's role in China, investment in mainland China and the regulatory environment. The committee also arranged a field trip to Beijing where they arranged a seminar on 24 September on the subject "Protecting and Enforcing your rights in China" – co-sponsored by the ECCT and AmCham.
Early advocacy issues
Spot the similarities – deja vous all over again
While the ECCT has made remarkable progress over the years in addressing its issues, members familiar with the chamber's position papers from recent years will notice, looking at issues raised in the first 10 years of the chamber, that there are a number of recurring themes.
Investment committee
The ECCT's investment committee in the early years focused on tax treatment regarding European investment income including high rates of withholding tax on dividends, royalties and interest income. The committee also advocated the continuation of investment and tax incentives under the Statute for the Encouragement of Investment(SEI). In July 1989, the ECCT called for relaxation on rules governing mergers and acquisitions.
Banking
At the time of the chamber's founding, there was an annual quota on new entrants or a restriction on the range of services that they could offer. There were also restrictions in terms of reserve requirements, capital adequacy ratios, ceilings on deposit and lending rates, gaps in exposure limits, limitations on the activities of specific firms. By 1989 there were already 10 European banks with branches in Taiwan.
Beverage Alcohol
Liberalisation of the importation of alcoholic beverages was an important issue in the early days of the chamber. Demand was outstripping supply and the chamber argued that liberalization would help to discourage smuggling and increase the authenticity of legitimate products.
Trade and Distribution was focused on trade liberalization, the breaking up of monopolies such as state-controlled petroleum, wine and tobacco companies.
Beefing up the secretariat
In 1995, Theo Stiftl took on the newly created position as Chief Executive Officer, a position created to streamline and professionalise the ECCT's operations and reduce the workload of the board of directors. The Secretary General position remained in place but was phased out two years later in 1997. To improve government relations, Jerry Fong was hired as the chamber's first Government Liaison Director in 1997, a position he still holds today.
In the same year, the chamber began the practice of hiring a dedicated person to take care of communications.
Office space
In February 1991, the ECCT moved to a new office on Tunhua North Road with a conference room for 15 and enough space for a staff of four. The ECCT moved to its office on Zhongxiao East Road (where it remains today) in January 1994.
First members' survey
The ECCT first members' survey was sent to members in April 1991. Highlights of results were published in August-September 1991 issue of Euroview.
Cooperation with AmCham
The ECCT held a joint symposium with AmCham in early 1992 on the subject of the Fair Trade Law. The event was attended by 150 people. The ECCT also cooperated with AmCham on environmental protection issues. The ECCT's Environmental Protection committee meetings at the time were open to their AmCham counterparts. In the early days, one director on the board was assigned to act as the liaison director with AmCham. To this day, the ECCT maintains regular contact and cooperation with AmCham and the chambers share a joint Banking committee.
Regional trips
In the autumn of 1995, the ECCT visited the now discontinued Taichung Provincial Assembly in Taichung at the invitation of Governor James Soong.
Courting the opposition
The ECCT has always remained politically neutral and has from time to time visited or hosted leaders from both of Taiwan's major political parties. In February 1996, the chamber hosted Shih Mingteh, then Chairman of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) at a luncheon. In September 1994, the chamber also hosted then Legislator Chen Shuibien when he was a candidate running for mayor of Taipei city.
ECCT's entry into the Internet age
By October 1996, the ECCT had already launched its first website. To cover costs, rotating banner advertisements from supporting members were displayed.
Part 3 – 1999-2008
- The growth and development years (click here to see PDF with photos)
Introduction
The decade from 1999-2008 was the period in the chamber's history that witnessed the strongest growth in membership, committees and staff, all of which enabled a sharp increase in chamber activities, thereby boosting the chamber's profile and influence.
The decision to hire a full time CEO in 1995 enabled an increasing level of professionalism of the chamber's activities and services. The hiring of more staff in the years that followed allowed the chamber to expand its activities and services.
The running of chamber and its activities became more structured and organized in 2002 when the secretariat set up a new committee organisational framework covering the establishment of working groups, planning annual calendars of events, the production of position papers and the development of effective media and government relations.
Of specific importance to the chamber's advocacy efforts was the decision in 2004 to hire dedicated staff for the Automotive and Pharmaceutical committees to serve the specific needs of these committees. ECCT Chairman from 2003-2005, Dirk Sänger, remarked in his Euroview column in February-March 2005 the proof of success of this strategy a new bill in the legislature that guaranteed better IP protection for pharmaceutical companies. The steady stream of advocacy successes attributed to dedicated staff for these and other committees in the years following the initial success offered further evidence of the effectiveness of the strategy to hire dedicated staff.
Membership
Membership grew significantly in thechamber's second decade, particularly between 2002 and 2005, thanks to proactive recruitment strategies on the part of the board and secretariat. Soon af ter Di rk Sänger took over as chai rman in the second half of 2003, he repor ted a strong rise in ECCT membership (up 50 in 2002 and up another 50 in the first half of 2003). In Issue 92 of Euroview (April- May 2004), Sänger repor ted that membership had reached a record high of 280 companies and 478 individuals. By September 2004, Dirk Sänger noted that the chamber had achieved a 50% membership growth rate over the past two years to 300 corporate members and 500 individuals. By the end of 2005, membership had risen to close to 350 companies and 600 individuals.
Committees
In line with membership growth, the number of ECCT commit tees more than doubled in the chamber's second decade thanks to better organisation int erna l ly and g reat er access to government and more meetings with a larger number of government ministries and agencies. The ECCT established around a dozen commit tees in its first decade. By the end of the second decade the number of committees more than doubled. Notable additions in the second decade included:
Better Living: In May 2000, the ECCT set up of the Better Living committee to work with the Taipei city government on ways to improve the living environment. Two months later the committee's BetterTaipei Living Survey results were published in an article in Euroview. Among other conclusions, the article offered suggestions to the Taipei City Government to repair and unblock pavements and improve traffic law enforcement.
Intellectual Property Rights: The IPR committee was set up in early 2002. John Eastwood was a founding cochairperson and remains so today.
Travel & Tourism: Later in 2002, the Travel & Tourism committee was set up while other committees were reinvigorated. At the time, the ECCT had 15 committees with another three inthe planning stages.
Luxury Goods: The Luxury Goods committee was established in early 2004.
Technology: The Technology committee was set up in mid-2004.
Agro-Chemical : In the second half of 2005, the ECCT set up the Agro-Chemical commit tee. Soon after its establishment the committee visited the Taipei IntellectualProperty Office (TIPO) under the Ministry of Economic Affairs(MoEA). Issues discussed included problems of IPR, trademark and trade-dress infringements.
Market Research: In the same year, the chamber set up the Market Research committee, bringing the number of committees to 27.
Advocacy successes
According to Theo Stiftl, ECCT CEO from 1995-2002 , Taiwan's WTO accession talks (leading up to Taiwan's WTO accession in 2002) provided an opportunity for the ECCT to make progress on certain issues. One issue was car import dut ies, which were very high at the time. There were also issues facing the banking industry. Prior to Taiwan's WTO entry, there were significantly more restrictions on foreign banks, which were lifted ahead of Taiwan's accession. The implementation of the Tobacco & Alcohol Administrative Law (TAAL), approved by the Legislative Yuan in June 1999 brought a formal end to the era of the monopoly for the Taiwan Tobacco and Wine Monopoly Bureau. The monopoly had been total until 1987 when foreigners were first permitted to import wine and, a few years later, spirits. The monopoly had been gradually eroded in the ensuing years. The market opening measures in the new act were made as part of Taiwan's commitments to the EU and the US in its WTO negotiations. However, there were (and remain to this day) a number of issues facing European producers. At the time one of the biggest issues facing European importers was the abundance of "look-alikes" of their beverages in Taiwan.
The ECCT began making the call for cross-Strait business normalization in 2005. This was one of the central themes of several position papers during ECCT Chairman Ralf Scheller's term. While the most progress towards normalization only occurred after 2008, in the form of direct links, the freer movement of people and goods and eventually the ECFA, there were several other lobbying breakthroughs during Ralf Scheller's two-year term. Many related to government regulations changing at short notice. "We made the government aware that it was not helpful to business to make sudden changes without giving business enough time to prepare," according to Scheller.
One example occurred in 2006 when the government announced that the Chinese have "different drinking habits" from westerners and that they drink much stronger alcohol and in much larger quantities and that the level of sulphur dioxide in European wines was therefore much too high given the drinking habits of the Chinese. European wine importers in Taiwan were afraid that their business would be decimated if the new sulphur dioxide rules were imposed. Thanks to ECCT pressure over many meetings and several months, a compromise solution was reached. The government raised the maximum sulphur dioxide (SO2) level for alcoholic beverages to 400 milligrams per litre (mg/ l) while the maximum methanol content for grape wines was raised to 2,000 mg/l. As a consequence of these measures, all European wines were able to pass the requirements.
The ECCT's Automotive committee also saw steady progress on its issues. In 2006, the government agreed to adopt Euro 4 standards for diesel engines. Another area of important breakthroughs was the acceptance of reports for car testing certificates such as the acceptance of European crash test certificates. The government had previously required car crash tests to be done in Taiwan. This was very expensive, especially for small volume importers. Taiwan also introduced its own unique bus height standards, which were not in line with European and other international standards. These rules were subsequently changed following ECCT pressure.
Gradual progress was made in reducing the number of items manufactured in China that were either banned or restricted from importation into Taiwan. For example, between 2004 and 2005, the ban on 75 items from the PRC import ban list were lifted. Other progress made in that year included the introduction of data exclusivity regulations for the pharmaceutical industry while improvements were made in customs clearance by shipping agencies through electronic filing and restrictions were eased on the PRC visitors to multinationalsin Taiwan.
European relations
The ECCT continued to visit Brussels for its annual Open Door Missions every year in the second decade. The delegation met with very senior officials, especially in the years leading up to Taiwan's WTO accession. During the sixth open door mission held from 28-29 November 2000, the delegation met with European Commissioner for External Relations Chris Patten and the Commissioner for Trade Pascal Lamy.
The seventh open door mission was held in November 2001. The delegation was led by Vice chairman Paul Zeven from Philips and included a meeting with Commissioner Pascal Lamy.
In Issue 84 of Euroview an interview with Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy was printed. In the interview, Lamy noted that the PRC import ban was an important issue for European firms.
In a report on the tenth annual Open Door Mission, then ECCT CEO Wittich wrote that progress on data exclusivity had
been helped by the European Commission.
The EETO
The EU's representative office in Taiwan, the European Economic and Trade Office (EETO) was opened in 2003. An introductory interview with the first EETO Head, Brian McDonald was published in Euroview Issue 85 (March-April 2003) a few months ahead of the official opening. Pierre Defraigne, Deputy Director General of Trade traveled to Taiwan for the official opening of the EETO on 22 July. He spoke at an ECCT lunch on the same day. His speech was published in full in Euroview Issue 87 (July-August 2003). In his speech, Defraigne said the EETO's core business would be to boost trade and investment ties.
In his capacity as EETO Head Brian McDonald was invited to give a speech at the 2003 Europe Day Dinner. Since then, the EETO has always been invited to speak at the dinner together with the Taiwan president and the ECCT Chairman.
The EBO Worldwide Network
The ECCT participated in the first regional European chamber conference from 28-29 April 2005 in Bangkok. This was the precursor to the Worldwide Network of European Business Organisations (EBO). EU Trade commissioner Peter Mandelson attended the event.
Later in the year (from 30-31 May 2005), an ECCT delegation attended a regional forum on IPR protection from 30-31 May.
Social events
Wining and dining
The ECCT held the first in a series of wine tasting dinners in 2004. Subsequent events became popular regular fixtures for gourmets and wineexperts in Taipei.
Gala ball
The annual gala ball became known as one of highlights of the Taipei social calendar. Themes varied every year. In 2000, the theme was Limericks and Leprecauns and featured Irish dancing, singing, food and beverages.
Christmas lunch
The ECCT's 2000 Christmas lunch featured TES children singing for the second consecutive year. The TES choir has been a fixture of the Christmas lunch ever since.
ECCT and Charity
Charity Golf Cup
The inaugural ECCT-ICRT InternationalCharity Golf Cup was held in pouring rain at Royal Kuan Hsi Golf Club. It has been held annually ever since at a variety of golf courses, usually in better weather.
Earthquake relief
The ECCT organized a relief fund following the "921" earthquake that generated NT$4.5 million in donations and a charity dinner that brought in NT$1.7 million by auctioning off items donated by members and other items. This included a jacket by then Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou.
Government relations
The ECCT hosted vice presidential candidate Annette Lu at an ECCT lunch ahead of the 2000 presidential election. Her address included an explanation of her vice presidential campaign issues including business, human rights and mainland China.
On 22 August 2005 an ECCT delegation headed by Chairman Dirk Sänger met with Premier Frank Hsieh and government ministers, Ho Mei-Yueh (MOEA), Joseph Wu (MAC), Hou Sheng-Mou (DoH) as well as other senior government officials from the Ministry of Finance and the CEPD at the Executive Yuan. The delegation also included Vice Chairman Ralf Scheller and senior committee co-chairs.
On 8 December Premier Frank Hsieh was the guest of honour at the ECCT's December monthly luncheon held in conjunction with AmCham. The event was attended by some 180 ECCT and AmCham members and more than a dozen journalists from all of Taiwan's leading newspapers and cable TV news stations.
On 5 October, the ECCT took a trip to Taoyuan County to visit Taoyuan County Magistrate Eric Chu (Li-luan). The ECCT delegation was headed by Chairman Ralf Scheller, CEO Guy Wittich and representatives from the Logistics and Travel
and Tourism committees.
Political debate : The ECCT's January 2006 Monthly Members' Luncheon hosted two legislators (from the governing and opposition parties) to give their views. Hsiao Bi-Khim, from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party and Joanna Lei from the opposition Kuomintang Party on the provocative topic: «Between Elections - Power struggle and economic impasse?».
On 29 November 2007 KMT presidential candidate Ma Ying-jeou announced his economic plans at a special luncheon jointly hosted by foreign business chambers – the ECCT, AmCham, BCCT and ANZCham.
On 26 May 2008, the ECCT's May Monthly luncheon hosted Dr PK Chiang, newly installed Chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF). Addressing the ECCT on his first day in the office, Chiang spoke about what is on the agenda for talks with the PRC in the coming months. This marked the beginning of rapid progress on cross-Strait business normalization over the next few years.
On 25 June, an ECCT delegation headed by Chairman Philippe Pellegrin visited newly appointed Chairperson of the cabinet level Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), Dr Lai Shin-yuan.
Launch of TEM study
On 6 October 2008, the October Monthly Members Luncheon, held in conjunction with the ECCT's Business Forum on EU-Taiwan investment and trade relations was the forum to announce the results of the recently completed study conducted by Copenhagen Economics on the impact that an EU-Taiwan Trade Enhancement Measures (TEM) agreement would have for both Taiwan and the EU. Martin H Thelle, Partner at Copenhagen Economics and research project leader gave a summary of the main findings of the study, "Taiwan: Enhancing Opportunities for European Business". The study was updated in 2012.
Part 4 – 2009-2013
- Maturity to a new era (click here to see PDF with photos)
Introduction
The years from 2009 to 2013 marked the chamber's coming of age and transition to a new era as a nationwide association. The strong performance of the chamberin the face of the global financial crisis proved its resilience while the transition to a nationwide association has demonstrated the ECCT's commitment to expanding its presence and influence all across Taiwan. The period was also marked by even stronger relations with the government and Taiwanese business organisations. To improve awareness about the chamber and its activities among the general public, the ECCT also increased its interactions with the media and launched a Chinese version of its website in 2011.
Cruising through the crisis
While the onset of the global financial crisis in 2008 hit Taiwan and the global economy hard, the ECCT showed resilience. Despite the crisis, 2009 proved to be yet another very successful year for the chamber with membership increasing at a steady pace, significant successes in advocacy and a high level of activity. 2009 saw a slew of events about the global economic crisis including a business summit and monthly or special luncheons on the economy with financial institutions including Calyon, Societe Generale, HSBC and Deutche Bank and the government. In 2009, the chamber held over 150 activities, attracting more than 5,000 attendees.
The topic of the March Monthly Luncheon on 27 March 2009 was a "EUTaiwan business summit: Turning the crisis into a strategic advantage for your business" with Keynote speaker: Martin Hirt, Managing Director of McKinsey & Co. and distinguished panellists: Morris Chang, Founding Chairman of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Ltd. (TSMC); Nicholas Winsor, CEO of HSBC Taiwan (who later became ECCT Chairman) and Christina Y Liu, Chief Economic Advisor at Daiwa Japan Institute of Research (who later became CEPD Minister). The summit, jointly hosted by the ECCT and the Chinese International Economic Cooperation Association (CIECA) was officially opened by ECCT Chairman Philippe Pellegrin and CIECA Chairman Wang Chung-you. The panellists engaged in a lively discussion following a keynote presentation by Martin Hirt.
The February Monthly Luncheon on 25 February 2009 was on the topic "After the 2009 Shockwave: When economic recovery can be expected and what will have changed?" Featured panelists were Mitul Kotecha, Head of Global Foreign Exchange Strategy, Calyon and Sebastien Barbe, Senior Economist Asia, Calyon and political & economic commentator, ShenFu-Hsiung.
The theme of the 2008-2009 Position Papers also reflected the mood of the times. The theme "Steering out of the Storm: EU-Taiwan Partnership during Turbulent Times" reflected the view of the chamber that a stronger partnership between Taiwan and European business would help considerably to weather the global economic crisis that was affecting economies the world over including Taiwan and the EU.
Given the steady growth in membership and higher revenue from events, the chamber's financial position remained healthy throughout the crisis despite adverse economic conditions, which saw Taiwan's GDP growth stagnate to 0.7% in 2008 and fall 1.8% in 2009.
Advocacy breakthroughs
The economic crisis also led to an increase in advocacy efforts. Thanks to these efforts, of the 164 business issues raised in the ECCT's 2008-2009 Position Papers, 42 issues were either resolved or saw significant progress.
For example, progress was made in the complicated issue of customs clearance following an ECCT visit to the Directorate General of Customs, Ministry of Finance including Lee Mao, Deputy Director General of the Directorate General (DG) of Customs. Rapid progress made in the years following this breakthrough resolved most of the issues raised by the Customs committee. The committee has not released a position paper since 2011. The same is true of the Maritime and Product Certification committees. The Product Certification committee issued its last paper in 2010 while the Maritime committee issued its last paper in 2007.
Thawing of cross-Strait relations
The election of Ma Ying-jeou as ROC President in 2008 marked the beginning of thaw in Taiwan's relations with mainland China. The ECCT kept its members up to date through periodical events with government officials engaged in cross-Strait relations, notably the Chairpersons of the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) and the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF).
On 20 January 2009 MAC Minister Dr Lai Shin-yuan addressed a packed meet ing of members at tending the ECCT's first Monthly Luncheon of 2009. Dr Lai was introduced by ECCT Chai rman Phi l ippe Pel legr in who congratulated her and her ministry's remarkable achievements in normalising cross-Strait business relations since taking office in May 2008, noting that many of the ECCT's recommendations have been followed and implemented in the negotiations.
On 30 November Francis Liang, Vice Mini s ter of the Ministry of Economic Affairs gave members an introduction to ECFA and the implications of opening up to investment by foreign and local enterprises.
At the September 2010 Monthly Luncheon Dr PK Chiang, Chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) was the guest speaker on the subject of cross-Strait relations.
Government reform
The government embarked on a process of restructuring and reform in 2009. To brief members on the ambitious government reform plans, the chamber invited Dr Jiang Yi-huah, then Minister of the Research, Development and Evaluation Commission (RDEC) to a special lunch on 12 March 2009.
Prominent guests
The ECCT's May Monthly Members' Luncheon on 27 May 2009 featured a forum on the subject of tourism in Taiwan. This was a halcyon time for the travel & tourism industry following Taiwan's opening up to mainland Chinese tourists. The speakers and panelists included Stanley Yen, Group President, The Landis Hotels & Resorts; Dr Mao Chi-kuo, Minister of Transportation & Communication; Josef Dolp, Area Managing Director, Taiwan, Starwood Asia Pacific Hotels & Resorts & Chairman of the ECCT's Travel ECCT HISTORY & Tourism Commit tee; Christophe Pairaud, General Manager, Accor Group Taiwan; Zhang Yun, General Manager Taiwan, Air China and Adrian Harley, General Manager, Taiwan & Korea, Cathay Pacific. Panelists concurred that Taiwan has great potential to develop into a haven for tourism and that the government had demonstrated its sincere commitment to achieving this goal. While applauding the Ma administration's large budget allocations to tourism infrastructure and promotion over the next four years, the panellists stressed the need for careful planning to ensure a balanced and sustainable business model for the tourism industry.
On 2 June 2010, Mauro Petriccione, Director of the Directorate General of Trade at the European Commission gave a speech to members on the topic "Boosting EU-Taiwan trade ties: The European Commission's role in promoting EU-Taiwan trade". In his speech, Petriccione spoke about the current status of EU-Taiwan trade relations and where Taiwan fits in the EU's global trade and economic strategies.
On 22 June 2010, Dr Lu Shyue-ching, Chairman & CEO of Chunghwa Telecom gave a speech at the Monthly Luncheon on the topic: "Telecom transformation and cloud computing".
Douglas Hsu, Chairman of the Far Eastern Group was the guest speaker at the June 2011 Monthly Luncheon on the topic "The formula for Taiwan's future success: How to capitalize on trends and new business opportunities in the greater China region". Hsu spoke about the outlook for the Far Eastern Group, which comprises over 190 companies operating in 10 industries including telecommunications, textiles, cement, retail, finance, petrochemicals, hotels and transport.
ROC Vice President Vincent Siew was the guest of honour at the November 2011 Monthly Members' Lunch, held to mark the milestone of surpassing US$30 billion in European Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) in Taiwan, which was reached in October 2011. In recognition of the Taiwan government's role in the development of Taiwan-European business ties, ECCT Chairman Chris James, together with ECCT board directors, handed over a commemorative plaque to the Taiwan government represented by Vice President Siew at the lunch.
The guest speaker at the August 2012 Monthly Lunch was Leslie Koo, Vice Chairman of the Chinese National Federation of Industries & Chairman, Taiwan Cement Corporation. The event was attended by senior executives from Taiwanese firms, who are members of the Chinese National Federation of Industries (CNFI ), a non-prof it organization consisting of 155 member associations, each of which represent specific industries including steel, textiles, IT, chemicals and automobiles. Collectively, member associat ions represent more than 90,000 companies in Taiwan.
Established in 1948, the CNFI is one of the most inf luential opinion leaders in terms of government policy advocacy in Taiwan. In his speech, Koo's offered some advice to businesses in tough economic times.
Lin Wen-yen, President of Tatung Company was a guest speaker at a special lunch on the subject "Towards smarter grids and smarter homes: The rise and development of smart grid technology in the EU and Taiwan". The event also featured a presentation by ECCT Chairman Giuseppe Izzo in his professional capacity as General Manager of STMicroelectronics.
Field trips
The chamber arranged a number of field trips outside Taipei for members between 2009 and 2013.
In April 2009, the ECCT visited the global headquarters of bicycle company, Giant, in Taichung following the chamber's April Monthly Members‘ Luncheon with Taichung Mayor Jason Hu.
In March 2011 a delegation led by Chairman Chris James, Vice Chairman Peter Weiss and CEO Freddie Hoeglund, accompanied by board directors, committee chairs and around 40 members took a day-trip to Kaohsiung for the March Monthly Members' Luncheon. The trip included a face to face meeting with Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu, lunch with Deputy Mayor Lee Yung-te, a tour of China Steel Corporation's plant and a visit to the National Stadium, venue of the 2009 World Games.
Contact with regional European chambers
Besides field trips arranged for members, the chamber also began to arrange annual visits to sister European chambers in Asia. The visits have become an important part of the chamber's efforts to strengthen relations with other European chambers in the European Business Organizations' Worldwide Network (EBO). The EBO Worldwide Network was formally founded on 22 April 2011 with 13 founding European member chambers and business organisations. The ECCT's Freddie Hoeglund was elected as the EBO's first Vice Chairman, and has retained that position ever since. EBO membership has since increased to 25 member chambers. EBO CEOs meet twice annually, once in Brussels and once in member chambers' countries, on a rotating basis. For its part, the ECCT arranges at least one visit for its members to a European chamber in Asia every year.
In September 2010, ECCT CEO Freddie Hoeglund led a delegation of 11 ECCT board directors and members on a trip to Shanghai to visit the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China (EUCCC), Shanghai branch and the Shanghai Exposition.
On 29 November 2010 the ECCT hosted Piter de Jong, Chairman, European Union Chamber of Commerce in China (EUCCC) and Dr Ioana Kraft, General Manager, EUCCC, Shanghai Chapter at a special lunch to present the EUCCC's 2010/2011 Position Paper. The EUCCC visit was arranged following the ECCT's visit to Shanghai two months previously where the ECCT and EUCCC decided to increase cooperation with regards to information sharing and helping each other to arrange speakers for events in both Taipei and Shanghai.
In October 2011, an ECCT delegation headed by Vice Chairman Olivier Rousselet and CEO Freddie Hoeglund travelled to Beijing to visit its counterpart in that city, the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China (EUCCC).
The ECCT visited South Korea in 2012 and Vietnam in 2013.
GNSS.asia
Under the EBO Worldwide Network, the ECCT was granted funding by the European Commission as part of a consortium, called GNSS.asia, of five European chambers (from China, South Korea, Japan, India and Taiwan). This was the first time that the ECCT applied for and won a bid to run a large-scale EU project in cooperation with other European chambers in the EBO Worldwide Network.
The global navigation satellite system (GNSS) Asia project falls under the EU's FP7 programme and is linked to promoting technology development related to the Galileo satellite project. The GNSS.asia consortium's objective is to develop potential research and industrial partnerships between EU and Asian organisations, including those in Taiwan, where the particular focus is on developing EU-Taiwan industry partnerships in the Besides the annual Europe Day Dinner and occasional forums, the chamber held a number of large-scale events between 2009 and 2013. These included three telecom forums (in 2009, 2010 and 2012) and the launch of the ECCT's Low Carbon initiative. GNSS downstream sector. The GNSS.asia project began at the start of 2012 and runs for 30 months.
Major events
Besides the annual Europe Day Dinner and occasional forums, the chamber held a number of large-scale events between 2009 and 2013. These included three telecom forums (in 2009, 2010 and 2012) and the launch of the ECCT's Low Carbon initiative.
The first EU-Taiwan Telecommunications Forum was held on 20 November 2009. Hosted by the ECCT's Telecommunication, Media & Content (TMC) committee, the event brought together experts and policy makers from the EU and Taiwan to share information on regulations and best practices as well as discuss trends in the telecommunications field. The audience included senior European and Taiwanese business executives from operators as well as handset manufacturers and technology providers, senior government officials and representatives of EU institutes and trade offices.
On 7 December 2010, the second EU-Taiwan Telecommunications Forum was held. The third forum held, on 13 March 2012, combined telecom and technology industry topics and the event was extended from a half-day event to a full day programme. The forum was attended by 120 members of the ECCT and their guests.
The April 2010 Monthly Luncheon featured a forum with a panel of leading business and trade promotion organisations on the topic "Solidifying EU-Taiwan business cooperation: Promoting mutual interests and exploring new opportunities". Prominent guests were Chao Yuen-chuan, President & CEO, Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA); David Liu, Secretary-General, Chinese International Economic Cooperation Association (CIECA); Jack Huang, Secretary-General, Importers and Exporters Association of Taipei (IEAT). In 2013, the chamber discontinued Monthly Luncheons in favour of Premium Events. The change was made in order to give the chamber the flexibility to hold more than one major event in any given month.
The Low Carbon Initiative
The ECCT established the Low Carbon Initiative (LCI) in 2011 with the objective to showcase the best European low carbon solutions and practices across a broad range of industries, to raise awareness about sustainable development and promote the adoption of low carbon solutions in order to help Taiwan to reduce its carbon emissions.
The LCI's inaugural Exhibition and Conference was held on 12 June 2012. The event showcased European solutions to lower carbon emissions in Taiwan to facilitate Taiwan's efforts to shift to a low carbon economy and society. The event featured an opening ceremony with VIP guests, including ROC Vice President Wu Den-yih, an exhibition, a conference and a lunch with a speech by Taiwan's Environmental Protection Administration Minister Shen Shu-hung. To highlight the best practices of LCI founding members, exhibition booths displayed a comprehensive array of products, technical solutions and services that are designed to lower carbon emissions. The conference, featuring panelists from a wide range of industries, served as a platform for industry experts from Europe and Taiwan to share information on best practices, as well as discuss trends and business opportunities in the fields of sustainable urban development, transportation and industrial low carbon solutions. The event culminated in a lunch featuring a speech by the EPA minister.
The LCI has gone on to release a publication, arrange and participate in numerous events to raise awareness about low carbon solutions and sustainability in Taipei, Kaohsiung and Tainan.
Special reports and publications
The ECCT published a number of reports between 2008 and 2013 including two reports promoting a Trade Enhancement Measures Agreement between the EU and Taiwan and several reports in partnership with research institutes and member companies.
On 29 June 2009, the chamber released a special report titled Energy Saving Measures for Taiwan's Built Environment: Technologies and strategies to improve the energy efficiency of Taiwan's existing and new buildings. The report was the product of research conducted by the ECCT's Energy Conservation Steering committee under the Energy and Environment committee. The report drew on results of a simulation conducted by the National Taipei University of Technology as well as best practices and cutting-edge technologies from Europe to improve energy efficiency.
At the September 2012 Monthly Lunch, the chamber released followup study examining the impact of a potential trade deal between the EU and Taiwan. The report, commissioned by the ECCT to Copenhagen Economics, was a follow-up to its original 2008 study on the potential impact of a free trade deal between the EU and Taiwan. The report's main findings were presented to members at the ECCT's Monthly Members' Lunch and to the media at a press conference held directly afterwards by Martin Thelle, Partner at Copenhagen Economics.
On 20 November 2012, the ECCT's Low Carbon Initiative released its publication "Low Carbon 2013 – Solutions for a low carbon future". The report was initiated and supported by the ECCT's 20 LCI member companies. Besides a comprehensive analysis of Taiwan's GHG emissions, the report offers an array of readily-available solutions offered by European firms that would help Taiwan to reduce its emissions. 22 January 2013 marked the launch of inaugural Michael Page Salary & Employment Forecast 2013 for Taiwan. The report was produced by Michael Page and released in association with the ECCT.
The beginning of a new era
2013 marked the chamber's transition from a Taipei-based to a nation-wide association, the European Chamber of Commerce Taiwan. The official inauguration was held on 26 February at the Grand Hotel which marked both the ECCT's 25th anniversary lunch and the official inauguration of the chamber as a nation-wide association.
The chamber is now the only foreign nation-wide business chamber in Taiwan. The chamber's new status is aimed at expanding the chamber's reach and activities to the whole of Taiwan. It also allows the ECCT to hold official dialogue with local municipal governments all around Taiwan on behalf of its members and host activities across Taiwan.
The event was attended by around 300 ECCT members and prominent guests. They included President Ma Yingjeou, Minister of the Interior Lee Hongyuan, former Vice President Vincent Siew, senior cabinet officials, Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin as well as eight former ECCT Chairmen, including the ECCT's first Chairman back in 1988, John Brinsden, and three former CEOs.
Since the transition to a nationwide association, the chamber has maintained its close relations with the Taipei City Government but also begun to expand its activities beyond Taipei to other cities in Taiwan.
On 8 March 2013, the ECCT held its annual round table lunch with Taipei Mayor Hau Lung-bin.
In April 2013, a 50-member ECCT delegation visited Taichung where they had lunch with Mayor Jason Hu and toured the headquarters of TSMC's Solar division and Hiwin Technologies Corporation. Following that trip, the chamber has set up a Central Taiwan committee to serve members in the greater Taichung area.
In June 2013, a 25-member ECCT delegation headed by Vice Chairman Godwin Chang and CEO Freddie Hoeglund and comprising ECCT board directors and committee chairpersons travelled to Tainan to meet with Tainan Mayor William Lai (Ching-de) and senior Tainan City Government officials. The delegation held a roundtable working lunch with the city government after which they visited National Cheng Kung University where they briefed a delegation of senior university officials and staff about the ECCT's Low Carbon Initiative.
The ECCT met with Mayor Lai again at the 2013 Asia Pacific Cities Summit (APCS) in Kaoshiung from 9-11 September 2013. The event attracted 1,300 participants including representatives from 100 cities (including 85 mayors). At the summit the ECCT's LCI took part by hosting one of three discussion panels held simultaneously on the topic "Low-Carbon
City Initiatives". Five LCI members gave presentations (Bosch, Ford, Siemens, STMicroelectronics and TÜV Rheinland) on case studies of low-carbon solutions from their respective industries.
At the closing ceremony of the APCS, the ECCT met with Tainan Mayor William Lai where they discussed collaboration on the Low Carbon City Conference to be co-hosted by the Tainan City Government and other joint initiatives with the ECCT's Low Carbon Initiative in 2013 and 2014.
This marked the beginning of what promises to be a long and successful partnership with Tainan and other cities around Taiwan.
Part 5 – 2014-2018 – Expanding Nationwide
Introduction
Leadership from 2014-2018
Chairpersons
Giuseppe Izzo 2013-2014
Bernd Barkey 2015-2016
Håkan Cervell 2017-2018
CEO
Freddie Höglund (since 2009)
The 2014-2018 period was marked by growing cooperation with both central and local government authorities in Taiwan and the EU. As part of its active programme to expand ties and cooperation with municipal governments all across Taiwan, trips were arranged every year to cities as well as offshore islands. This period was also marked by an increase in joint activities, whereby the ECCT teamed up with various ministries and agencies from the central government or municipal governments to host numerous conferences, forums and seminars. These activities were spearheaded either by ECCT committees, the Low Carbon Initiative or under the framework of European programmes, funded by the European Union and run by the ECCT, principally the European Business Regulatory Cooperation (EBRC) programme and the GNSS.asia programme.
Expansion of nationwide activities
Since the ECCT became a nationwide association in 2013, the chamber actively began to seek opportunities for visits and exchanges with municipal governments all across Taiwan as well as outlying islands. In 2014, regional visits were arranged to Hsinchu and Kaohsiung. In 2015, three regional visits were arranged to Hsinchu County, Tainan and Kaohsiung, respectively. These trips included meetings with the mayors of these cities.
In 2016 the chamber arranged official visits to Taichung (with Mayor Lin Chia-lung) and Taoyuan (with Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan). 2016 was also the chamber’s first trip to an offshore island, Penghu, where the delegation met with Mayor Chen Kuang-fu. That trip also included a tour of the island.
In 2017, visits were arranged to Keelung, to visit Mayor Lin Yu-chang, and the offshore island of Kinmen, where the chamber met with Deputy Mayor Wu Cherng-dean and took a tour of the island, which included a visit to the famous Kinmen Kaoliang Liquor Company, the Jhaishan Tunnel and a steel knife factory.
In 2018, an ECCT delegation visited New Taipei City, where they had a working lunch with Deputy Mayor Yeh Hueh-ching.
While the chamber spread activities nationwide, it maintained close contact with the Taipei City Government. The tradition of annual roundtable lunches with the mayor and senior officials of the TCG, which began in 1998, continued to be held every year from 2014-2018. Under the administration of independent mayor Ko Wen-jo (who took office in November 2014), the lunches were always well attended and eventful. While Mayor Ko never gave long speeches, he was always willing to provide forthright responses to questions from members during Q&A sessions.
To augment the chamber’s expansion of activities nationwide, the chamber set up two regional committees. The Central Taiwan committee was established up in 2013 in Taichung and the Southern Taiwan committee was set up in 2015, based in Kaohsiung. The objective of the regional committees is to serve the interests of ECCT members and European business interests in the respective regions (the greater Taichung and Greater Kaohsiung and Tainan metropolitan areas and surrounding areas), including those companies with headquarters or operations in central and southern Taiwan as well as those with branch offices in these areas. The committees serve as cross-industry platforms to represent the interests of ECCT members and arrange activities for members doing business or interested in doing business in central and southern Taiwan.
Committee evolution
Besides the addition of regional committees in central and southern Taiwan, in 2014, the chamber added one new committee, Customs & Logistics, which combined members in the formerly separate Customs and Maritime committees in order to bring together logistics, transportation and shipping companies under the same broad umbrella. In 2017, the committee was renamed “Supply Chain” to expand the scope of the committee’s activities to include other related functions, such as procurement, quality management, sourcing, reverse logistics, service logistics and contract manufacturing, among others in order to be more effective in addressing and resolving their issues.
In 2016 the chamber set up the Education committee with the objective to seek to promote an open, transparent and competitive legal, regulatory and commercial environment in Taiwan for the academic industry.
In 2017, the chamber set up the Wind Energy committee, indicating the strong potential of wind energy in Taiwan and the strong interest of European companies in the sector.
Low Carbon Initiative and committee-led activities
A number of activities held between 2014 and 2018 were driven by ECCT’s Low Carbon Initiative or industry committees as a way to engage with targeted experts and stakeholders from government and industry on specialized topics. The ECCT’s Low Carbon Initiative, Retail & Distribution, Automotive, Telecom, Wind Energy and healthcare-related committees were particularly active in this regard.
In 2014, the ECCT’s Low Carbon Initiative was actively involved in activities in Hsinchu and Kaohsiung. The LCI also began arranging events to coincide with major trade shows such as Computex Taipei and Semicon Taiwan.
In 2016, the LCI teamed up with China Petroleum Corporation (CPC) and PwC to host the “New Energy Leadership Forum”. Also in 2016, the EU-Taiwan Green Financing Forum was co-organised by the LCI in conjunction with the Dai Yan-Hui Foundation and Hua Nan Bank. The seminar was attended by 180 people and featured presentations on how renewable energy projects, especially offshore wind projects, are financed in Germany and elsewhere in Europe.
In 2017 the Sustainable City Forum (23 February) was one of the highlights of the 2017 Smart City Summit & Expo, the largest event covering smart cities and the IoT industry in Asia. It featured senior executives, officials and experts and enterprises from 29 countries and 55 cities to discuss and showcase strategies and solutions to promote sustainability in cities.
The ECCT was a supporting organiser of the “Smart Growth Towards a Circular Economy Forum” on 11 September 2017, which was one of the series of events that were part of the World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT), hosted in Taipei. The WCIT is a flagship congress which has been organized by the World Information Technology and Services Alliance (WITSA) since 1978, and is often referred to as the “Olympics” of the ICT industry. One of the speakers was Swiss psychiatrist and balloonist Bertrand Piccard. At the event he introduced Solar Impulse, the long-range experimental solar-powered aircraft, in which he, together with Swiss engineer and businessman André Borschberg, succeeded in circumnavigating the earth using just solar power for the first time.
Besides the LCI, many committees worked on expanding cooperation with ministries and local governments.
In 2014, the chamber hosted the Internationalization of Taiwan Industry Forum. The full-day forum was co-organized by the ECCT’s Retail & Distribution committee together with the Taiwan Food Industry Association (TFIDA) and the Taiwan Advertisers’ Association (TAA). The event featured four sessions on international advertising regulatory systems and policies. It was well-organised and attended by 130 people.
The Automotive committee hosted several events together with government agencies. In both 2014 and 2015 it hosted a Smart Mobility Conference together with the Ministry of Transportation and Communication’s (MoTC) Institute of Transportation (IOT). The 2015 event was attended by 160 guests from government including MoTC Minister Chen Jian-yu.
In 2016, the EU-Taiwan Advanced Vehicle Safety Seminar was arranged by the Automotive committee together with the Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MoTC), the Vehicle Safety Certification Center (VSCC), the European Economic and Trade Office (EETO) and the German Trade Office Taipei (GTO). The forum was well attended and received positive feedback, especially on the quality of the speakers from Europe who shared state-of-the-art vehicle technologies and best regulatory practices aimed at improving vehicle and traffic safety in Taiwan.
The International Conference on Vehicle Fuel Test Technologies in 2016 was jointly organised by the ECCT, the Bureau of Energy under the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI). The event attracted a large audience and featured technical presentations and discussions on the latest developments in Europe and Taiwan regarding the testing of vehicles for fuel consumption.
Over the years, the ECCT’s healthcare-related committees have hosted numerous joint events featuring government officials. In 2015, the Pharmaceutical and Healthcare Enhancement committees jointly hosted a very informative forum together with the Global Views Media Group on the subject of the sustainability of Taiwan's healthcare system.
In 2016, the ECCT’s Healthcare Enhancement committee hosted a panel discussion covering a variety of subjects related to ensuring the future sustainability of Taiwan’s national healthcare system while all healthcare related committees hosted a lunch with Dr Lee Po-chang, Director-General of the National Health Insurance Administration.
Biannual EU-Taiwan Telecom forums were hosted by the ECCT’s Telecommunications, Media and Content committee in 2014 and 2017 (which was the fifth forum held since 2009). Both events were well attended. Nicole Chan, Chairperson of the National Communications Commission, attended the 2017 forum together with telecom industry experts, senior regulatory officials and senior executives from companies operating in all sectors of the telecom industry and supply chain including all major telecom operators and equipment suppliers.
In 2017, the ECCT’s Technology and Telecom Media and Content committees hosted a lunch with Taiwan’s so-called “Digital Minister” Audrey Tang (Feng). It was the first time an ECCT event was streamed live on Facebook. There were over 60 guests in person and many participants online.
Also in 2017, spearheaded by the ECCT’s Retail & Distribution committee, the International Government Transparency Forum was jointly hosted with the National Development Council (NDC). The event featured high profile speakers from the EU and Asia to discuss the latest developments and best international practices related to the drafting, implementation and maintenance of controls, including laws, regulations and guidelines.
2017 was an important year for the burgeoning wind energy industry in Taiwan. The ECCT’s Wind Energy committee and the Low Carbon Initiative (LCI) hosted a number of events to promote wind energy development during the year. The Europe-Taiwan Wind Energy Conference was jointly hosted with the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), the Taiwan Academy of Banking and Finance (TABF) and SEMI Taiwan. It was well-organised and attended by around 400 people, which included financial and industry experts in the wind energy industry, investors and NGOs. The overall objective was to share knowledge of the EU’s policies on investment structures and bring together wind energy developers to discuss the best way forward for the development of the wind industry in Taiwan.
Momentum in the wind energy continued in 2018 with arrangement of a Wind Energy Summit on 15 March 2018 in Tainan and several other activities hosted by the Wind Energy committee and the LCI as well as European and Taiwanese authorities. This included the 2018 EU-Taiwan Offshore Wind Power Certification Seminar on 14 March and the Wind Power Cluster Seminar on 4 June, which were arranged by the European Union, in conjunction with Taiwanese government ministries and agencies.
EU-led activities
In addition to frequent contact and cooperation with European trade offices and institutes in Taiwan and the continuation of annual Open Door Mission trips to Brussels every year between 2014 and 2018, the ECCT enhanced its cooperation with the EU. In particular, 2014 marked the first year of the four-year EU Business and Regulatory Cooperation (EBRC) programme, funded and managed by the European Union and implemented by the ECCT. The programme’s aim is to enhance the regulatory environment for trade and investment in Taiwan, as well as to develop closer business cooperation between the EU and Taiwan. The programme concentrates on both advocating EU and international regulatory principles and instruments and paving the way for sustainable engagement and cooperation between Europe and Taiwan.
The first official event organised by the EBRC in 2014 was a two-day food safety seminar, which was extremely well-organised and well attended. Four guest speakers from Europe (the Commission and EU member state experts), Taiwan Food and Drug Administration (TFDA) authorities, and European and Taiwanese representatives of industry and academia participated.
The EBRC also arranged two other seminars in 2014 covering the service industry and micro and nanoelectronics.
In 2015, the ECCT actively participated in several activities as part of the EU’s Mission for Growth to Taiwan, which took place from 3-5 June 2015. The mission was led by Daniel Calleja, then Director-General of the European Commission’s (EC) Directorate-General of Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG Grow). The delegation included EC officials and representatives from 58 European companies.
It was the first visit of its kind arranged by DG Grow to Taiwan and the first time so-called bilateral “industrial dialogue” had been held, in addition to the annual EU-Taiwan consultations.
The ECCT participated in meetings together with EU officials with the Vice Premier, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the National Development Council (NDC). The ECCT also arranged its own Premium Event lunch on 5 June with DG Calleja as the guest speaker.
In 2015, six EBRC seminars were held on the subjects of Government Procurement, Food Safety, Electric Vehicles, IPR protection, semiconductor industry cooperation and online consumer protection. The seminars all featured prominent government guests and European and Taiwanese experts to share experience and best practices.
In 2016 seminars were held on the subjects of Food Trade, Trade Secrets and the circular economy. In addition, the ECCT supported and participated in European Innovation Week (EIW), a series of Information and Communication Technology (ICT)-focused events. They were organised by the European Commission in cooperation with Silicon Europe Worldwide and the European Cluster Collaboration Platform and key partners in Taiwan related to ICT, both from competent government agencies and research institutes. Activities included seminars on smart industry, smart mobility, smart healthcare, 5G and nano-electronics.
In 2017 EBRC seminars were held on the subjects of Green Procurement, Food Safety, Organic Food Trade and Industrial Designs & Trademarks.
In 2018 seminars were held on the subjects of Wind Energy Certification, IPR and SPS, in addition to several seminars arranged during the 2018 European Innovation Week, which included the first Conference on EU-Taiwan Medical Device Regulation. Since EBRC events are aimed at improving the regulatory environment in Taiwan, they were well received and widely praised by ECCT members. Given the success of the first phase of EBRC programme, a second phase will begin in 2019.
Position Papers
As the chamber’s most important annual publication consolidating of the most important advocacy issues put forward by the its committees, the ECCT’s annual position papers continued to be well regarded and widely read in both Taiwan and Europe.
The theme of the 2015 papers (released in 2014) was “Shaping Taiwan’s Future: Building on Core Strengths”. The papers raised 116 issues (64 unresolved from previous years and 52 new issues) proposed by 23 of its committees that the chamber believes will help to improve Taiwan’s regulatory environment and shape a prosperous future.
The theme of the 2016 papers (released in 2015) was “Decision Time: Taking Courageous Action in Uncertain Times”. The papers included separate submissions from 23 of the ECCT’s 29 industry and support committees and raise 130 issues, 76 that were unresolved from previous years and 54 new issues.
The theme of the 2017 papers (released in 2016) was “Gearing Up Taiwan’s Revival”. The publication included separate submissions from 24 of the ECCT’s 29 industry and support committees and raises 143 issues, 85 issues unresolved from previous years and 57 new issues.
The theme of the 2018 papers (released in 2017) was “Clearing the Hurdles to Economic Progress”. The publication included separate submissions from 25 of the ECCT’s 30 industry and support committees and raises 132 issues, 84 issues unresolved from previous years and 48 new issues.
Advocacy progress
The chamber continued to make steady progress on the major issues raised by its committees between 2014 and 2018. The best way to measure this progress is by tracking progress on position paper issues. Every year between 2014-2018, between 18% and 24% of issues were either resolved or saw progress towards resolution.
In 2014, there was a notable breakthrough in telecom issues. Four issues raised by the ECCT’s Telecommunications, Media and Content committee were resolved after many years of no progress. Issues resolved included the successful 4G mobile broadband auction and removal of regulatory hurdles to allow operators to launch 4G services. In addition, the National Communications Commission (NCC) allowed telecom operators to set their own data usage and pricing plans for each mobile phone service package. Further, the NCC announced that it would release more spectrum for mobile broadband while the Executive Yuan adopted several recommendations made by the committee to allocate funds raised through the 4G auction for industry development such as increasing network deployment in rural areas, enhancing public indoor coverage and facilitating R&D investment in the next generation of mobile telecommunications (5G).
In 2014 there was also significant progress on the issue of the China import ban. The ban or restrictions on the importation of items produced in mainland China has long been an issue for ECCT members. However, much progress was made in 2014 and 2015. In 2014, the ban was lifted on all 50 items listed on priority list of the Luxury Goods committee. Then, in 2015, a number of items were lifted from the PRC import ban lists of the Electrical Engineering & Equipment, Healthcare Enhancement and Retail committees. Since then, the import ban has no longer been a priority issue for the Electrical Engineering & Equipment and Healthcare Enhancement committees. Only the Retail & Distribution and Medical Device committees maintain import ban lists in their 2018 papers.
In 2015 the legislature has passed the Greenhouse Gas Reduction and Management Act, which mandated a cap of carbon emissions to 50% of 2005 levels by 2050. The act was passed after eight years of advocacy by the ECCT. Subsequent to the passage of the act the government has taken steps towards reaching the goal by setting a target for renewable energy to make up 20% of energy-generating capacity by 2025 and taken steps to lift restrictions and speed up progress towards reaching renewable energy goals.
In 2016 the Executive Yuan issued a directive to extend the notice and comment period for drafts of all regulations from 14 days to 60 days. The problem of insufficient notice periods before implementing new regulations had long been an issue for many ECCT members and the change thus marked a great breakthrough, especially for the Retail & Distribution and financial services committees.
2017 saw a lot of activity related to the labour law, following the implementation of tough labour law amendments at the beginning of 2017. Activities began with two meetings in January, one with the National Development Council and another with the Ministry of Labour to discuss problems that had arisen as a result of changes to the Labour Standards Law implemented on 1 January 2017. Then, in April, 72 members attended a workshop arranged by the HR committee where Kuo Kuo-wen, the Deputy Minister of Labour gave a presentation to members outlining the main provisions of the “Enforcement Rules on the Labour Standards Act”, which were released on 17 March, laying out procedures companies must follow in order to comply with the most recent amendments to the Labour Standards Law (LSL). In response to much criticism of the LSL amendments by the ECCT and many other business and labour groups, changes were proposed by the cabinet in November 2017 and passed into law in January 2018. Many of the changes took into account recommendations made by the ECCT in its position papers and over the course of the year.
Prominent speakers
The ECCT hosted a number of Premium Events over the course of the years featuring prominent guest speakers.
In 2014, these included the following:
Derek O’Halloran, Head of Information Technology Industry at the World Economic Forum,
Lee Shush-der, Chairman of the Taiwan Stock Exchange
Francois Guibert, Chairman of the EU-ASEAN Business Council & Executive Vice President & President, Greater China & South Asia Region, STMicroelectronics
Göran Marby, Director-General of the Swedish Post and Telecom Authority (PTS),
Cees Van der Helm, Tax Partner, KPMG
Klaus Baader, Chief Asia Pacific Economist, Societe Generale and
Philippe de Buck, Former Director-General, BusinessEurope
In 2015 Dr Wei Kuo-yen, Minister of the Environmental Protection Administration presented the EPA’s vision and plans to implement the Greenhouse Gas Reduction and Management Act.
Two Premium Events were held focusing on the economic outlook, one with Simon Evans from Commerzbank in March and another with Klaus Baader from Societe Generale in October.
In 2016, Guy Stear, Head, Corporate Credit Research and Emerging Market Strategy for Société Générale (SG) Corporate & Investment Banking provided a synopsis of major global macro-economic trends and an outlook for the global economy in 2017.
In 2018, Dr Morris Chang was the guest of honour as an ECCT Premium Event, just a week after he had formally retired as chairman of TSMC, after leading the company since its founding in 1987. At TSMC, he pioneered the pure play semiconductor foundry model and led the company through multiple phases of development to become the undisputed global leader today. At the lunch, Dr Chang gave a speech on a range of topics after which he answered questions from the audience of over 100 ECCT members and guests. At the conclusion of the lunch, ECCT Chairman Håkan Cervell presented a lifetime achievement award to Dr Chang on behalf of the ECCT in recognition of his essential and unmatched contribution to the creation and development of Taiwan’s semiconductor industry and the enduring legacy of Taiwan’s globally-significant technology supply chain.
The Greater China Business committee was active in hosting events with interesting speakers.
In 2015 these included Professor Chu Yun-han, President of the Chiang Ching-Kuo Foundation and Professor Willy Lam from Hong Kong, who has become a frequent guest speaker at ECCT events.
Reports
Starting in 2013 and every year since the ECCT cooperated with Michael Page to release an annual Salary & Employment Outlook report.
In 2015, the ECCT’s Low Carbon Initiative launched a report titled “The Path to Industrial Energy Efficiency in Taiwan - Partnering with the EU”. The event was attended by MoEA Minister John Deng.
In 2018, the LCI, in conjunction with CPC Corporation and partners in government and industry, launched a report titled “Energy for the Next Generation - Shaping Taiwan’s Energy Transition”.
The Low Carbon Initiative (LCI), in conjunction with CPC Corporation and partners in government and industry launched a report titled “Energy for the Next Generation - Shaping Taiwan’s Energy Transition”. The launch was attended by Dr Shen Jong-chin, Minister of the Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA); Dr Yang Wei-fuu, Chairman of Taiwan Power Company (Taipower) and CPC Chairman, Dr Tai Chein.
Contact with regional European chambers
Every year the ECCT arranged a visit to one of its regional counterparts that are part of the Worldwide Network of European Business Organisations (EBO). The purpose of the annual trips is to strengthen ties and share information on best practices. The following trips were arranged from 2014-2018.
2014 ECCT visit to Indonesia
An ECCT delegation travelled to Jakarta Indonesia to visit the European Business Chamber of Commerce in Indonesia (EuroCham). The delegation held a series of nine meetings with their counterparts from EuroCham's board of directors (including the chairman from Maersk), the secretariat (including the newly-hired General Manager) and sectoral Working Groups (IPR, Agriculture & Beverages, Automotive and Finance). The also had separate meetings with the EU and Swedish ambassadors to Indonesia and the Head of the EU Delegation's Trade Section.
2015 ECCT visit to Thailand
An ECCT delegation travelled to Bangkok, Thailand to visit the Thai-European Business Association (TEBA). The delegation held a series of meetings with their counterparts and took part in TEBA's monthly breakfast briefing on the subject of energy and an automotive workshop. On the final day of the trip, the delegation paid a courtesy visit to the EU Delegation in Thailand.
2016 ECCT visit to Myanmar
An ECCT delegation travelled to Yangon, Myanmar to visit the European Chamber of Commerce in Myanmar (Eurocham). Besides meeting with their counterparts, the ECCT delegation met with Roland Kobia, the EU’s ambassador to Myanmar, Olivier Richard, the French ambassador to Myanmar (who was previously the French Representative to Taiwan), the director of the Taiwan Trade Centre, Yangon Branch (a branch of TAITRA) and the chairman and representatives of The Republic of the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI). The trip provided delegates with an update on the business and regulatory environment in Myanmar from different perspectives (such as from the view of Taiwan business from TAITRA, the view of European diplomats and Myanmar business from UMFCCI). Another purpose of the trip was to offer help and advice to the new chamber, which had only recently been established at the time.
2017 ECCT visit to Laos
An ECCT delegation travelled to Vientiane, Laos to visit the chamber’s counterpart, the European Chamber of Commerce In Laos (ECCIL). Activities included meetings with the EU delegation in Laos, the Lao National Chamber of Commerce and Industry, a visit to the Vientiane Industrial and Trade Area (VITA) Park Special Economic Zone, dinner with ECCIL Executive Committee (board) members, a visit to the facilities of Lao Tobacco as well as COPE (Cooperative Orthotic & Prosthetic Enterprise). COPE is a non-profit organization based in Vientiane that runs rehabilitation centres to provide care and support to unexploded ordinances (UXO) survivors, including orthotic and prosthetic devices and physiotherapy. The trip was well organised by the ECCIL.
2018 ECCT visit to Beijing
An ECCT delegation headed by Vice Chairman Olivier Rousselet and CEO Freddie Höglund travelled to Beijing, China to visit the chamber's counterpart, the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China (EUCCC). During the trip the delegation held a series of meetings with various organisations in Beijing including the Delegation of the European Union, the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT) and the EU SME Centre. Meetings were also held with the EUCCC’s board of directors and representatives of EU-funded projects in China. One the final day of the trip, the delegation was given a guided tour of one of Bayer's factories.
Tours & Outings
Over the years, the chamber continued to arrange various trips and outings for the benefit of ECCT members.
In 2015 about 40 members from the travel and tourism and related industries paid a visit to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport (TTIA). The trip included a meeting with David Fei, CEO of the Taoyuan International Airport Corporation (TIAC) and senior TIAC officials, a tour of TTIA's terminals and a lunch featuring guest speaker Kevin Chiang, President of the Ever Rich Corporation, Taiwan’s leading duty free retailer.
In the same year, the ECCT's Technology committee arranged an exclusive trip to Taiwan's leading space technology institution, the National Space Organization (NSPO) in Hsinchu. The trip featured tours of the NSPO's Multi-satellite Operation Control Center and Satellite Integration & Testing Facility and a networking session with innovative industry players.
The LCI also arranged some interesting outings in 2016. A "Wind Power Festival" was held in Taichung. The event was hosted by the LCI with the support of the Taichung City Government and Turtle Shell Village in Taichung's Turtle Shell Park. The objective of the event was to showcase the potential of renewable energy and smart technologies. The event was well-planned and attended by around 160 people, including local officials from the Taichung city government, city councillors, 12 local chiefs and residents (in addition to ECCT LCI members and staff). Participants were transported to the park by electric buses, which were recharged on site using wind energy.
Also in 2016, the LCI in conjunction with the ECCT’s Central Taiwan committee hosted a half-day event that introduced IKEA's purchasing practices, a tour of a factory of one of IKEA's suppliers and a networking barbeque in the rooftop garden of IKEA's Taichung store.
Every year, to coincide with the lunar new year, the ECCT arranged a tour of cultural or historical interest.
In 2014, the chamber arranged a tour of the Pili Puppet Exhibition at Huashan Creative Park, featuring multiple exhibits of puppets, film sets and multi-media displays. The guided tour included an introduction to Pili's history, its puppets and their various colourful characters, how film sets are made and stories are filmed.
In 2016, the ECCT's annual cultural event explored the history of tea cultivation, processing and trading in Taiwan. The tour was held in the historical Dadaocheng district of Taipei, home to some of Taiwan's oldest trading establishments. Distinguished academic historian Dr Lin Man-houng joined the tour and engaged in discussions with guests about Taiwan's history.
In 2017, a tour was arranged to the Legislative Yuan, where guests were given a tour of the facility and observed a live legislative session. In 2018, a tour was arranged to the Shilin residence of former ROC President Chiang Kai-shek. After the tour guests had lunch with Dr Lin Man-houng and former ROC President Ma Ying-jeou.
Part 6 – 2019-2023 – The pandemic years
Introduction
Leadership from 2019-2023
Chairpersons
Giuseppe Izzo 2019-2020
H Henry Chang 2021-2022
Giuseppe Izzo 2023-2024
CEO
Freddie Höglund (since 2009)
The 2019-2023 period was in many ways defined by the global Coronavirus pandemic. From the beginning of 2019 until around March of 2020, it was business as usual. But after that, a period of severe disruptions to business and life ensued, many of which had abated by the end of 2023 but others which continue to have lasting impacts. Nevertheless, Taiwan's experience of the pandemic was somewhat different from that of most other countries. The fact that Taiwan is an island nation and that authorities in Taiwan reacted quickly in the early stage of the pandemic to close borders meant that Taiwan was initially protected from the worst impacts of the pandemic that were experienced in other countries. This also gave Taiwan time to prepare and improve its resilience, which reduced the impact by the time Taiwan was hit by its first large wave of infections, more than a year later. Given the low number of local Covid-19 cases initially, no lockdowns were imposed, allowing life to continue mostly as usual. Moreover, given the local economy's focus on exports of electronic devices and components that became essential during the pandemic, Taiwan's economy experienced strong growth when much of the global economy was languishing.
Taiwan closed its borders to all but essential travel in March 2020 and, although restrictions were alternately eased and tightened over the course of the pandemic, it was not until 13 October 2022 that all border restrictions were finally lifted and not until 17 April 2023 when mask mandates on public transport were lifted. During the course of the pandemic, there were periods of several months in 2020, 2021 and 2022 when in person events and meetings were severely restricted. When travelling was allowed, strict quarantine requirements upon arrival in Taiwan made short business trips impractical, which effectively halted most international business trips. At times, only small meetings were permitted and no large-scale events were held. At other times, the size of gatherings was restricted and other restrictions and regulations were imposed, such as mandating the wearing of surgical masks (among other hygiene related requirements). As an organisation that thrives on networking activities, these restrictions obviously had an impact on the ECCT. Even when restrictions were eased to allow the holding of larger gatherings, attendance was sometimes affected by fears of contagion, especially in the period before vaccines became widely available and at times when there was a spike in infections.
Pandemic activities
The first period of severe restrictions (from March until May 2020) when in person events were effectively prohibited, the chamber, like other organisations, began to hold online activities as well as hybrid events (with both in-person and online attendance). Then in 2021, there was five-month period of so-called "level 3 restrictions", following a surge of local Covid-19 transmissions and cases, which mandated the wearing of masks at all times outside of people's homes, and limited indoor gatherings to five people, while outdoor gatherings were restricted to 10. This forced first the postponement and the eventual cancellation of the ECCT's Europe Day Dinner, the Gala Ball, and many other events in 2021.
The first pandemic-related event was held on 3 March 2020 (before restrictions were implemented). It came in the form of a hybrid lunch on the topic "Dealing with the coronavirus in China - Plans and contingencies of European businesses". The event featured guest speakers Jörg Wuttke, President of the EU Chamber of Commerce China (EUCCC) and Adam Dunnett, Secretary General of EUCCC who called in via video conference from Beijing while members in Taipei attended in person.
Over the course of the pandemic, the chamber arranged frequent events with government and business representatives to give updates and share information on how they were dealing with the pandemic. On 12 March 2020, the chamber hosted a lunch with the CDC's Dr Angela Huang (Song-en) to talk about the government's response to the pandemic.
On 30 April 2020, the chamber hosted a webinar Douglas Habecker, who was the 50th person in Taiwan to contract the coronavirus. In the webinar he shared the story of his experience. In addition, several online events were held to discuss topics such as working from home.
In 2021, the ECCT's Human Resources committee held two forums to share information and best practices to help companies deal with pandemic-related challenges on the topics: 1) "New challenges, critical employment, and other legal Issues during the pandemic" and 2) Hybrid working in the post-pandemic era.
Dr Roy Lee, at the time Senior Deputy Executive Director of the Taiwan WTO and RTA Center at the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER), was a frequent guest of the ECCT during the pandemic, sometimes giving online presentations to the board or as a guest speaker at ECCT lunches (when live events were permitted). He later went on to serve as Taiwan's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and, at the end of 2023, he was appointed as Taiwan's Ambassador to the EU and Belgium, set to take office in 2024.
Regional webinars: A number of webinars were held in conjunction with European chambers in the region that are members of the European Business Organisations World Wide Network (EBO WWN). In 2020, the ECCT, together with other EBO WWN members hosted a webinar on the subject "Current market situations, business outlook and what else lies behind the shadow of Covid-19".
In March 2021, the ECCT arranged a webinar on the topic of the EU-China Comprehensive Agreement on Investment (CAI), decoupling global supply chains and the challenges facing European business in China. The event featured guest speakers (via video conference call from Beijing) Bruno Weill, Chief Group Representative, BNP Paribas China and Jacob Gunter, Senior Policy and Communications Manager at the European Chamber of Commerce in China (EUCCC).
In May 2021 ECCT members were invited to participate in a joint regional European chamber webinar arranged by the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP) on the subject of the future of work featuring IWG CEO Mark Dixon.
In May 2021 the ECCT participated in a joint regional European chamber webinar hosted by the European Chamber of Commerce in Korea (ECCK) featuring guest speaker Guido Fürer, Chief Investment Officer of Swiss Re Global Asset Management, speaking on the topic "Time to act - Swiss Re's sustainability journey".
In August 2021, the ECCT was invited to join a joint regional EBO WWN webinar hosted by the ECCK featuring guest speaker Harald Schwager, Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board of Evonik Industries.
In September 2021, the ECCK hosted another webinar with Dr Sabine Lutz, responsible for Group Research, Sustainability & R&D functions at Mercedes-Benz, who gave a presentation on the topic "Sustainability, technology, and innovation: on the way to a carbon-neutral and digital future".
Advocacy activities and progress
The ECCT's advocacy efforts continued more or less as usual, despite the pandemic. The chamber continued to hold regular meetings with government, which led to steady progress on the major issues raised by its committees between 2019 and 2023. This was helped by stepped up engagement with government agencies. In particular, in the years prior to 2019, the National Development Council (NDC) used to hold just one afternoon meeting with the ECCT per year. But, starting in 2019, under then NDC Minister Chen Mei-ling, the chamber held three separate half days of meetings to discuss position paper issues. This gave committee members more time to discuss the government's official reply to their issues in detail. In the years since then, the NDC has followed the same formula of hosting three half day meetings, although scheduling was sometimes postponed during the pandemic.
In addition, annual meetings with the premier used to be large affairs featuring many committee co-chairs, each of whom was given only a few minutes to present their issues. However, in 2019 it was decided to reduce the number of participants in these meetings in order to focus on only a few priority issues. This has proven to be a more effective and efficient use of limited time with the premier and resulted in increased understanding of complex issues.
In addition, frequent activities were arranged with government ministers over the years, including high level meetings with ministers of all of the major ministries, Premium Event lunches and guest of honour appearances by premiers, vice premiers and ministers at ECCT forums and summits. To name just a few, MOEA Minister Wang Mei-hua was the guest of honour at a Premium Event lunch and numerous forums, while Premium Event lunches were hosted for MOTC Minister Lin Chia-lung and Shieu Fuh-Sheng, Minister of the newly upgraded Ministry of Environment, to name a few.
Position Papers: As the chamber's most important annual publication consolidating of the most important advocacy issues put forward by its committees, the ECCT's annual position papers continued to be well regarded and widely read in both Taiwan and Europe from 2019-2023. The launches were attended by NDC ministers and received wide coverage in the media.
The results of advocacy efforts can be seen by tracking progress on position paper issues. On average, between 2019 and 2023 around 20% issues raised were either resolved or saw progress towards resolution.
Committee activities
Effective from August 2019, the ECCT's Automotive committee was renamed the Mobility committee. The decision to change the name and expand the focus and reach was made by members of the committee to take into account the automotive industry's ongoing transformation and to embrace the opportunities and address the new challenges arising from the trends towards greater electrification, connectivity, digitalisation, autonomous driving and the shared economy. In line with the new mandate, in addition to the committee's existing focus on the operations of importers and the homologation of vehicles and automotive parts, the committee's focus expanded to include, among other activities, engagement with stakeholders in government and industry in the electric vehicle and charging supply chain, digital connectivity systems and services for vehicle sharing and autonomous driving. Starting in 2019, the committee began arranging events related to electric vehicles (see activities in Mobility events section for more details).
Premium Events
The ECCT arranged frequent Premium Events over the years featuring prominent guest speakers.
Europe Day Dinners through the years: The ECCT continued the tradition of hosting ROC presidents at annual Europe Day Dinners. The dinner remains the ECCT's most prominent business event of the year.
In addition to President Tsai Ying-wen, the heads of the European Economic and Trade Office (EETO) in Taiwan attended the dinner (Madeleine Majorenko in 2019 and Filip Grzegorzewski since 2020).
The 2020 Europe Day Dinner had to be postponed from May until September due to the pandemic. Nevertheless that dinner attracted over 700 guests.
In 2021, the original date of the dinner was pushed back from May to September for the second consecutive year. However, owing to a surge in Covid-19 cases at the time, the 2021 dinner was eventually cancelled altogether. However, the sitting president, Tsai Ying-wen attended a special "Grand Dinner" hosted in January 2022 to make up for the cancellation of the 2021 dinner.
President Tsai attended every other Europe Day Dinner, including in 2022 at a time when there was a spike in Covid-19 cases in the days leading up to the event. Despite concerns that she might cancel, President Tsai attended the event along with a large delegation of cabinet ministers.
Things were back to normal in 2023. The 2023 dinner attracted a new record number of over 750 guests.
Next Generation Business & Leaders Series: In 2021 and 2022, then Chairman H Henry Chang initiated a series of events featuring prominent leaders from business and government.
The first event was a fireside chat with Steve Chen (陳士駿), the founder of YouTube, and Chen Liang-gee (陳良基), former minister of the Ministry of Science & Technology. The event was attended by over 100 guests, including prominent Taiwanese entrepreneurs and business leaders.
The second event was held in 2021 on the topic "The future of Taiwan tourism - MICE, business, and leisure travel" and featured a panel discussion with guests S Steven Pan, Executive Chairman of the Silks Hotel Group and FIH Corporation and James CF Huang, Chairman of the Taiwan External Trade Development Council (TAITRA).
In 2022, lunch events were held with Ministry of Justice (MOJ) Minister Tsai Ching-hsiang (蔡清祥) and Tony Chao (趙中榛), Senior Managing Director of ASML Taiwan's Center of Excellence.
Mobility events: The ECCT's Mobility committee was active in engaging with the government in promoting policies and arranging events to support the changing mobility environment, including electric vehicles. In 2019, the committee hosed a full-day New Energy Vehicle forum event in collaboration with the Ministry of Economic Affairs' (MOEA) Industrial Development Bureau (IDB, which was later upgraded to the Industrial Development Administration, IDA), the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA, which was later upgraded to the Ministry of Environment, MOENV), the Ministry of Transportation and Communication (MOTC) and the European Economic and Trade Office (EETO). The main purpose of the forum was to offer international insights and best practices on topics that are crucial to the future development of NEVs, namely, policies, charging infrastructure and business models.
In 2021, the Mobility committee arranged a forum to discuss Taiwan's EV transition. The full day forum held in a hybrid format, brought together policy makers and industry experts from Taiwan, Europe, and Asia. Guests of honour were Lin Chuan-neng, Vice Minister of the MOEA; Thomas Jürgensen, Head of Trade Section, EETO; Tsai Hung-teh, Deputy Minister, EPA (centre) and Chen Yen-po, Political Deputy Minister, MOTC.
In 2022, the ECCT was a co-organiser of the 2022 EU-Taiwan Electric Vehicle Conference together with the EETO, the MOTC, the IDB, under the MOEA and co-organised by the European Business & Regulatory Cooperation Program (EBRC), the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) and the Vehicle Safety Certification Center (VSCC). The event was attended by Wang Kwo-tsai, Minister of the MOTC and a keynote speech was given by Eric-Mark Huitema, Director-General of the European Automobile Manufacturers Association (ACEA).
2021 Healthcare forum: In 2021 the ECCT hosted the 2021 ECCT EU-Taiwan Healthcare Forum with the theme "Sustainable Healthcare through Public Private Partnership". The event brought together medical experts from the public and private sector in Europe and Taiwan to share ideas on sustainable and cost-effective healthcare, using AI and other technologies to reduce the disease burden and improve health outcomes, the future vaccination ecosystem, and how to tackle Taiwan's ageing population and low birth rate. Guests of honour at the event included then Vice President Lai Ching-de, Health Minister Chen Shih-chung and former Vice President Chen Chien-jen.
2022 Europe-Taiwan Financial Services Forum: In 2022, the ECCT held its first Europe-Taiwan Financial Services Forum with the theme "Building a robust ESG model for Taiwan - Sharing best practices from Europe & Taiwan". The full day event was organised by the chamber's financial services committees (Banking, Asset Management, and Insurance), and brought together policy makers and leading experts from Europe and Taiwan to share the latest developments in Environmental Social and Governance and best practices in leading markets. Guests of honour were John Dennis, British Office Taipei Representative and You Si-Kun, Legislative Yuan President.
Telecom forums: Biannual EU-Taiwan Telecom forums were hosted by the ECCT's Telecommunications, Media and Content committee in 2020 and 2023. The theme of the 2020 forum was "5G - Opportunities and challenges in the new decade" and the theme of the 2023 forum was "How telecoms are driving sustainability, digitalisation, AI and industry innovation".
Prominent speakers: The chamber hosted regular events featuring prominent visiting guest speakers before the pandemic and after restrictions were lifted. To name a few, in 2019, Klaus Baader, Global Chief Economist, Societe Generale Corporate & Investment Banking gave his perspective on the global economic outlook while Charlie Lay, Senior Economist, Asia, Commerzbank gave a presentation on the topic: "Asia - Weathering a slowing, furious, and VUCA world".
Alain Dehaze, Chief Executive Officer of The Adecco Group spoke on the topic "Megatrends shaping the world of work".
In 2023 the ECCT arranged a Special Lunch on the topic "2024, the year when the whole world votes" with prominent journalist Federico Rampini, Global Columnist for Corriere della Sera.
Family Friendly Alliance
In 2023, the chamber launched the Friendly Alliance and held several FFA events. In the face of Taiwan's falling birth rate and ageing population, the purpose of the FFA is to share best practices, especially from Europe, with the aim of promoting cooperation between the government, corporations and NGOs to create a family friendly environment in Taiwan. The FFA was officially inaugurated with a Premium Event summit in March. It was well attended by government officials and senior executives from ECCT member companies and received extremely positive feedback. Under the theme "The 'S' in ESG - Sustainable population, Sustainable Economy - How employers can make an impact and serve as role models", the event brought together experts from government and the private sector to examine the major demographic trends and related challenges facing Taiwan and seek possible solutions to address them.
The summit began with opening remarks by ECCT Chairman Giuseppe Izzo and Filip Grzegorzewski, Head of the European Economic and Trade Office in Taiwan. This was followed by presentations in two sessions by the following government officials and industry experts on topics including demographic challenges, advancing family-friendly policies to support sustainable population development, a sustainable economy, achieving work-life balance and labour law reform proposals for a family friendly environment, among others. The speakers were: Shih Keh-her, Deputy Minister of the National Development Council; Emily Tiemann, Manager of the Health Policy Team for Economist Impact; Lee Li-Feng, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Health and Welfare; Boonhuey EE, General Manager of Merck Healthcare Taiwan; Managing Director, Merck Hong Kong and Macau & Co-chair of the FFA; Howard Shiu, Partner, Baker McKenzie & Co-chair of the ECCT's Human Resources committee; Cindy Chen, Regional Head, Adecco Taiwan & South Korea & Co-Chair of the FFA.
Then in May, the ECCT released the 2023 Family Friendly Workplace Survey Report, conducted in 2022 by Adecco Taiwan in cooperation with the ECCT. The survey provided analysis and recommendations on creating family friendly workplaces in Taiwan. Results were presented by Amy Hsin, Senior Director of the Staffing Division at Adecco.
Nationwide activities
The ECCT continued to build its relations with municipal governments which were begun when the chamber became a nationwide association in 2013. This included annual lunches with the mayors of Taiwan's major cities.
Annual roundtable lunches were held with the Taipei City Government every year, first with Mayor Ko Wen-je, who went on to run for president in the 2024 election. In 2022, the lunch was also attended by Huang Shan-shan, then Deputy Mayor who went on to top the Taiwan People's Party's legislators at large list and win election to the legislature in 2024. In 2023, the chamber hosted a lunch with the new mayor, Chiang Wan-an.
In 2020, the chamber held a lunch with New Taipei Mayor Hou Yu-ih, who went on to become the Kuomintang's candidate for president in the 2024 presidential election.
During his tenure as mayor of Taoyuan (from 2014-2022), the ECCT held annual lunches, regular forums and frequent meetings and Cheng Wen-tsan (who, after his second term as mayor, was appointed Vice Premier).
The chamber's also began to hold annual lunch meetings with Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai, after he took office in 2020. Frequent meetings and events were held in Tainan under Mayor Huang Wei-che.
In 2020, a delegation of ECCT board directors took a two-day trip to Pingtung County. During the visit, the delegation held a lunch meeting with Magistrate Pan Men-an (潘孟安) and senior officials at the offices of the Pingtung County Government.
In addition to a Premium Event lunch with Hualien Magistrate Hsu Chen-Wei in Taipei in 2023, the ECCT was also a co-organiser of the 2023 Hualien Smart City Forum together with the Hualien County Government in Hualien.
Low Carbon Initiative activities
Global Offshore Wind Summit: The wind energy sector saw significant growth over the five years from 2019-2023, much of it attributed to investments from European companies. In line with the trend, the chamber began to hold regular events, both under the LCI and the Wind Energy committee. One of the most successful was the Global Offshore Wind Summit – Taiwan, arranged in cooperation with the Global Wind Energy Council (GWEC) annually from 2019 until 2022. In the first year, the event, held over three days, was the largest and most prominent event on offshore wind energy held in Taiwan to date. It was attended by over 400 people, including all of the world's top industry players, local and global investment groups, energy companies, project developers and regulators to discuss the promising future of Taiwan's offshore wind energy market. The main event was also supported by the government and attended by then MOEA Minister Shen Jong-chin and Taoyuan Mayor Cheng Wen-tsan. The summit went ahead in hybrid format during the pandemic (with local speakers attending in person and guests from overseas attending the summit virtually in 2020 and 2021).
Following the lifting of border controls shortly before the 2022 Global Offshore Wind Energy Summit - Taiwan (GOWST), that event marked the first time in three years when it was attended in person by numerous senior global and regional executives. In addition to GWEC, the 2022 edition was co-organised by the Taiwan International Ports Corporation (TIPC) and the Metals Industries Research & Development Center (MIRDC) and endorsed by Taiwan's Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) and Ministry of Transportation and Communications (MOTC).
In addition to summits, the ECCT organised frequent events to support the development of its members in the wind energy industry. This included frequent meetings with government and workshops.
SDGs forum: The 2022 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) International Forum was organised by CommonWealth Magazine (CMW) in cooperation with the LCI for four consecutive years from 2020-2023.
Renewable procurement summit: The Taiwan Renewable Procurement Summit was arranged by Business Weekly magazine in partnership with the LCI and RE100 in 2022 and 2023.
Female leaders series: In 2023, the LCI and National Taiwan University's Office of International Affairs (NTU OIA) jointly organised a series of women in ESG leadership forums featuring senior female executives from different disciplines. In the second event, a panel discussion featured Cynthia Chyn, Head of Public Policy, Taiwan of Amazon Web Services; Eva Leihener-Stefan, Managing Director of L'Oreal Taiwan; Boon Huey Ee, Managing Director of Hong Kong and Macau & General Manager Healthcare Taiwan for the Merck Group; Christy Wang, Chairperson & General Manager of Ørsted Taiwan and Michaela Boye, Managing Director of Scania Taiwan.
EU activities
In addition to frequent contact and cooperation with European trade offices and institutes in Taiwan, with the exception of pandemic years, the chamber continued its tradition of travelling to Brussels for the annual Open Door Mission trips, aimed at enhancing cooperation with EU institutions, European business associations and think tanks.
Among other high profile leaders, during the 2019 Open Door Mission the ECCT met with Klaus-Dieter Borchardt, who was then Deputy Director-General of the European Commission’s Directorate General for Energy.
In 2020 and 2021, when trips were cancelled because of the pandemic, a series of virtual meetings with various European Commission directorates general were held instead.
The annual trip to Brussels resumed in December 2022, when the chamber once again held in person meetings in Brussels with representatives from EU institutions and thinktanks, including: the Directorate-General for Internal Market, Industry, Entrepreneurship and SMEs (DG GROW) the Directorate General for Trade (DG TRADE), the Directorate General for Energy, the Directorate General for Mobility & Transport (DG MOVE), the Directorate General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology (DG CONNECT), Žaneta Vegnere, Deputy Head of the Cabinet of the EU Executive Vice-President & Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis, Wind Europe, European External Action Service (EEAS) Hydrogen Europe, Business Europe, ACEA, the European Centre for International Political Economy (ECIPE).
Deputy Director-General of DG GROW & Chief Standardisation Officer of the European Commission during her visit to Taiwan in 2023. The ECCT delegation to Brussels met her again in December 2023 during the annual Open Door Mission, in addition to meetings with other DGs and business organisations.
Special Events
Election-related events: The chamber hosted election related events in the months leading up to both the municipal elections (in November 2022) and the national elections (presidential and legislative elections - events were held in 2023 ahead of the elections in January 2024). The 2022 event came in the form of a panel discussion while in 2023, ahead of the January 2024 elections, the chamber hosted pre-election events to allow presidential candidates to outline their policy platforms. Premium Event lunches were held with DPP candidate and then Vice President Lai Ching-te, Taiwan People’s Party candidate Ko Wen-je and Foxconn Founder Terry Gou (who later dropped out of the race).
Taiwan Plus: In 2022, the ECCT hosted a Special Lunch with the CEO and senior executives of TaiwanPlus, Taiwan’s first independent English-language video news and entertainment platform for an international audience, which has since been upgraded and given its own dedicated TV channel, which provides round the clock programmes, including news, analysis, culture and entertainment programmes.
Metoo workshop: In the wake of the #Metoo movement, in 2023 the ECCT’s Human Resources committee hosted a workshop & lunch to share lessons and offer advice to corporations on how to better address sexual harassment complaints and create a safe and diverse workplace.
Cooperation with Robert Walters: Starting in 2021 and every year since then, the ECCT has cooperated with Robert Walters to release its annual Salary Survey.
Visits to regional European chambers
The pandemic put a stop to regional trips, but in other years (2019 and 2023) the ECCT arranged visits to one of its regional counterparts that are part of the EBO WWN of 49 members across five continents. The purpose of the annual trips is to strengthen ties and share information and best practices.
2019 trip to Malaysia: A five-member ECCT delegation travelled to Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia to visit the chamber's counterpart, the EU-Malaysia Chamber of Commerce & Industry (EUMCCI). The trip was very informative about the current economic and political situation in Malaysia as well as the status and functioning of the European Chamber there, the European Union Malaysia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (EUMCCI). During the trip, the delegation held meetings with its counterparts, Malaysian government agencies, TAITRA, and the Taiwan representative office in Malaysia.
2023 ECCT visit to the Philippines: An ECCT delegation took a trip to the Philippines where they held a series of meetings with counterparts from the European Chamber of Commerce of the Philippines (ECCP), business leaders and business organisations. During the trip, delegates exchanged information on their respective chambers' advocacy issues, activities and the business climate in our countries.
Communications
Transition to Euroview online: The ECCT's flagship publication, Euroview magazine, made the transition to a purely online version after the final printed version in December 2019 (which was also the launch of the purely online version). Since then new articles have been added on a weekly rather than a bi-monthly basis.
Media coverage: The ECCT continued to gain extensive exposure in the local media throughout the years. In particular, the ECCT's Europe Day Dinner, and the publication of the ECCT's position papers consistently attract numerous reporters and receive substantial coverage from newspapers, magazines, TV and online media groups.
Website & social media: The ECCT's website and social media sites (Facebook and LinkedIn) continued to receive good feedback from members and growth in activity, especially after the chamber hired a dedicated staff member to manage social media platforms in 2023.
Community engagement activities
The ECCT continued its cooperation with the Taipei European School (TES), including the annual beach cleaning event.
Students from the TES choir were also regular fixtures at annual ECCT Christmas lunches.
In addition to a separate beach cleaning event with TES, in 2020 over 200 ECCT members teamed up representatives of the Kaohsiung City Government and the Ocean Affairs Council (OAC) to clean up a stretch of beach in Kaohsiung. Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chi-mai and OAC Secretary General Liu Kuo-lieh took part in the beach cleaning activity at Chijin Beach together with officials from the city government and the OAC.
The ECCT's Sustainability & Community Engagement (SCE, previously the CSR) committee was also active over the years. In 2023 the committee arranged a tour and hands-on experience of the Tzu Chi Shuang Ho Recycling and Environmental Educational Center in the Zhonghe District of New Taipei City.
The chamber continued to entertain members with a series of events such as happy hours and the popular annual Gala balls (although balls were cancelled during the pandemic).
Secretariat
The ECCT secretariat continued to expand in the period despite the pandemic. Two additional officers were hired to assist in running the LCI, given its ever-growing schedule of activities.
In 2020, after 23 years serving as the ECCT's Government Liaison Director, Jerry Fong announced his retirement. Jerry was the longest-serving member of staff who witnessed enormous changes in Taiwan during his tenure, including the first democratic transfer of power in 2000 and numerous changes under the administrations of four presidents. Read this article for more about Jerry's remarkable career.
Membership
Membership of the ECCT continued to expand. In the five years from 2019-2023 ECCT membership saw a net increase of more than 10%.
Conclusion
While the pandemic years were disruptive to the chamber, the fact that activities continued, membership continued to rise and the chamber's finances remained strong, demonstrate that the ECCT has become a resilient organisation that has now survived the challenges of two major international crises, the 2008-2009 global financial crisis and the 2020-2022 global Coronavirus pandemic. The chamber is now well and truly a robust and permanent fixture of the international community in Taiwan that has stood the test of time.
