The chairwoman of the Grand Hotel (
"It can't be denied that China Airlines began to turn a profit during her tenure, which makes her management contributions useful to the carrier's future privatization plan if she sits on the board," DPP Legislator Tsai Huang-liang (蔡煌瑯) said yesterday in response to Tsung's appointment.
Tsung, who took the 51-year-old hotel's chairmanship last October, served as the carrier's president in July 2000.
She was later appointed to head the Ministry of Economic Affairs last February, becoming the nation's first female economics minister, but also the most short-tenured, spending only 48 days in office.
Minister of Transportation and Communications Lin Ling-san (
Tsung is expected to take up the seat left by Joseph Lu (
Lu is slated to take office as the president of the state-run Land Bank of Taiwan (土銀) beginning next Monday.
Lin is also the chairman of the quasi-governmental China Aviation Development Foundation (
Her appointment, however, immediately prompted media speculation that the government is paving the way for Tsung, a crony of President Chen Shu-bian (陳水扁), to later take up the carrier's chairmanship if current chairman Lee Yun-ling (李雲寧) retires in July.
Lin flatly denied the speculation yesterday.
"The government has no plans to reshuffle the carrier's top management since Lee and president Philip Wei (
Despite having secured a government loan of NT$4.5 billion, shares of China Airlines dropped by NT$0.15 to close at NT$12.95 on the TAIEX yesterday.
A market analyst yesterday said the carrier's underperforming stock is the result of SARS and has nothing to do with any of its leadership changes.
"If Tsung should re-enter the airline, the carrier's management will remain strong based on her past commendable performance," said Wang Teng-cheng (王登城) of Yuanta Core Pacific Capital Man-agement Co (元大京華投顧).
Tsung's new task may also help bridge a future strategic partnership between the hotel and the carrier, said Michael Chen (
"It's good news for the hotel since such a partnership, if possible, is sure to beef up our competitiveness," Chen said.
The hotel's occupancy rate dropped below 20 percent in early May, but recovered to hit 50 percent in the past few days, according to Hu Heng-li (
Tsung has demonstrated strong leadership with the hotel's 700-staff after taking over last October.
"It'll be a loss to the hotel" if Tsung should take up a managerial post at China Airlines, Hu said.
Nissan Motor Co has agreed to sell its global headquarters in Yokohama for ￥97 billion (US$630 million) to a group sponsored by Taiwanese autoparts maker Minth Group (敏實集團), as the struggling automaker seeks to shore up its financial position. The acquisition is led by a special purchase company managed by KJR Management Ltd, a Japanese real-estate unit of private equity giant KKR & Co, people familiar with the matter said. KJR said it would act as asset manager together with Mizuho Real Estate Management Co. Nissan is undergoing a broad cost-cutting campaign by eliminating jobs and shuttering plants as it grapples
TEMPORARY TRUCE: China has made concessions to ease rare earth trade controls, among others, while Washington holds fire on a 100% tariff on all Chinese goods China is effectively suspending implementation of additional export controls on rare earth metals and terminating investigations targeting US companies in the semiconductor supply chain, the White House announced. The White House on Saturday issued a fact sheet outlining some details of the trade pact agreed to earlier in the week by US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) that aimed to ease tensions between the world’s two largest economies. Under the deal, China is to issue general licenses valid for exports of rare earths, gallium, germanium, antimony and graphite “for the benefit of US end users and their suppliers
Dutch chipmaker Nexperia BV’s China unit yesterday said that it had established sufficient inventories of finished goods and works-in-progress, and that its supply chain remained secure and stable after its parent halted wafer supplies. The Dutch company suspended supplies of wafers to its Chinese assembly plant a week ago, calling it “a direct consequence of the local management’s recent failure to comply with the agreed contractual payment terms,” Reuters reported on Friday last week. Its China unit called Nexperia’s suspension “unilateral” and “extremely irresponsible,” adding that the Dutch parent’s claim about contractual payment was “misleading and highly deceptive,” according to a statement
The Chinese government has issued guidance requiring new data center projects that have received any state funds to only use domestically made artificial intelligence (AI) chips, two sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. In recent weeks, Chinese regulatory authorities have ordered such data centers that are less than 30 percent complete to remove all installed foreign chips, or cancel plans to purchase them, while projects in a more advanced stage would be decided on a case-by-case basis, the sources said. The move could represent one of China’s most aggressive steps yet to eliminate foreign technology from its critical infrastructure amid a
RSS