Taiwan is getting ready to carry out the first comprehensive reorganization of the executive branch of government since the current Constitution was adopted in 1947. With the goal of achieving greater efficiency, the revamping will decrease the number of Cabinet-level departments from the current 37 to 29, reducing the need for time-consuming inter-agency coordination.

• MACROECONOMICS
  GDP FORECASTS ROSY

• CROSS-STRAIT
  CHINA’S MISSILES MAY SOON NUMBER 2,000

• DOMESTIC
  MA PUSHES PLANS  TO ATTRACT FDI
  ECFA RECEIVES LEGISLATIVE APPROVAL
  THREE JUDGES HELD ON BRIBERY SUSPICIONS
  NEW ANTI-CORRUPTION COMMISSION DRAFTED

• INTERNATIONAL
  U.S. MOVES TO SEIZE CHEN’S PROPERTIES

• BUSINESS
  FORMOSA PLASTICS REFINERY HAS FIRE
  CHT, QUANTA AIM AT CLOUD COMPUTING
  CAPITAL SECURITIES ACQUIRES RIVAL

• Reaching Out to Foreign Residents
  BY DON SHAPIRO

• Enhancing Taiwan’s Cable TV Services
  BY DON SHAPIRO

At the end of June, a unique moment unfolded in Chongqing, China. “Semi-official” representatives of China and Taiwan – two territories that do not formally recognize each other, and whose relationship is generally characterized by the slinging of rhetorical arrows – shook hands and committed themselves to an agreement aimed to reduce tariffs and commercial barriers between the two sides. However, the agreement, known as the Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA), has since become mired in significant political acrimony in Taiwan.