TAIWAN

Taiwan Passes Cable Regulation: Taiwan’s passage Friday of a bill legalizing and regulating its cable television industry is likely to avoid threatened U.S. trade sanctions in a dispute over protection of foreign copyrights, according to Taiwan Economics Minister Chiang Pin-kung. Parliament, however, rejected another U.S. request--that the cable television industry be opened to foreign investment--and failed to pass trademark and patent legislation. Taiwan and the United States on Friday ended five days of talks in Washington on copyright piracy.