Schiff Sovereign's Take on Taiwan
The history of modern Taiwan began in 1949 – when the Chinese government relocated to Taiwan from mainland China while fighting a civil war with the Chinese Communist Party.
Since then, China and Taiwan functioned as independent countries, though both countries claim jurisdiction over both Taiwan and mainland China, and both consider their current neighboring government to be illegitimate.
Taiwan is similar to South Korea in one important regard – its culture is highly productive.
At the same time, we’d say that Taiwan is a little bit more “free-wheeling”, and more open to foreign businesses.
From a business perspective, it usually earns very high marks on “ease of doing business” rankings – even if many of these rankings have dubious ranking methodologies. In Taiwan’s case, however, the high rankings are deserved.
We have several subscribers who’ve spent substantial amounts of time in Taiwan. They call it an amazing place to live. It’s developed, safe, reasonably priced and welcoming to foreigners.
But keep in mind that serious geopolitical tensions are building up in the region. China would love to control Taiwan. And as China increasingly becomes the dominant military power in the region, at some point, the Chinese could opt to use blatant force in achieving this goal.
And you certainly don't want to be around when and if that happens.
Also, you need to beware of the country’s taxes; at least on the personal side. While the top corporate tax rate is rather competitive at 20%, the top personal income tax rate is a high 40%.
Still, Taiwan could serve you well if you want to set up a base in Asia.
And it's worth considering for students. A degree from a Taiwanese university is relatively inexpensive, the education quality is good, and learning a Taiwanese version of Mandarin is highly useful (even though it is not entirely identical to the mainland Mandarin).
Since then, China and Taiwan functioned as independent countries, though both countries claim jurisdiction over both Taiwan and mainland China, and both consider their current neighboring government to be illegitimate.
Taiwan is similar to South Korea in one important regard – its culture is highly productive.
At the same time, we’d say that Taiwan is a little bit more “free-wheeling”, and more open to foreign businesses.
From a business perspective, it usually earns very high marks on “ease of doing business” rankings – even if many of these rankings have dubious ranking methodologies. In Taiwan’s case, however, the high rankings are deserved.
We have several subscribers who’ve spent substantial amounts of time in Taiwan. They call it an amazing place to live. It’s developed, safe, reasonably priced and welcoming to foreigners.
But keep in mind that serious geopolitical tensions are building up in the region. China would love to control Taiwan. And as China increasingly becomes the dominant military power in the region, at some point, the Chinese could opt to use blatant force in achieving this goal.
And you certainly don't want to be around when and if that happens.
Also, you need to beware of the country’s taxes; at least on the personal side. While the top corporate tax rate is rather competitive at 20%, the top personal income tax rate is a high 40%.
Still, Taiwan could serve you well if you want to set up a base in Asia.
And it's worth considering for students. A degree from a Taiwanese university is relatively inexpensive, the education quality is good, and learning a Taiwanese version of Mandarin is highly useful (even though it is not entirely identical to the mainland Mandarin).
