The open conflict between the Hsinchu City government and United Microelectronics Corp-oration (UMC, 聯電) continued to simmer yesterday, with calls from a KMT lawmaker and an industry executive for the central government to step in and resolve the issue.
KMT Taipei County lawmaker Wu Ching-chih (
Wu said that Hsinchu Mayor Tsai Jen-chien's (
"The city government must clearly specify exactly who will benefit from the fund and not use its political weight to force firms to donate," Wu said.
The Hsinchu City government has long cried poor over what it has claimed is the central government's unequal allocation of financial resources.
In addition, the city government is upset that companies operating within the park seem unwilling to contribute to the local community.
"If the Hsinchu government needs funds to handle waste management and build roads, then it should be able to approach the central government through proper channels and ask for financial assistance," Wu said.
"The city government shouldn't involve itself in collecting money for such a fund," Wu said.
"This could easily be viewed as looking for bribes."
Wu's comments came one day after UMC on Monday placed half-page ads in a number of newspapers accusing the Hsinchu City Bureau of Environmental Protection of using "threats" to force it into contributing to the fund.
Bureau Director Liu Chia-chun (劉佳鈞) repeated his denial of the accusations yesterday, saying he was preparing to take legal action against what he called "slanderous" allegations.
Wu said the placement of the ads proves that UMC has a valid complaint, otherwise it wouldn't have gone to the trouble.
An executive at another semiconductor firm operating in the park echoed the lawmaker's remarks, saying that the problem has gone on for too long without any adequate intervention by the central government.
"Proper division of authority on managing the industrial park must be clearly worked out between the central and local governments and the firms operating in Hsinchu," said Lin Yun-long, (林雲龍) an executive at Macronix International (旺宏電子).
Lin explained that since the local government has to provide basic infrastructure such as roads and public transportation links, a legal process should be established whereby extra funding for infrastructure development could be appropriately requested from the central government.
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