Members of the legislature’s Finance Committee yesterday urged banks not to use Huawei Technologies Co Ltd’s (華為) equipment due to national security concerns, after Australia, New Zealand, the UK and Japan moved to restrict the Chinese telecom’s business.
However, Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) Chairman Wellington Koo (顧立雄) told the committee that the commission needs to look at domestic regulations and WTO agreements to see whether it has the right to restrict banks from using Huawei’s equipment.
Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou (孟晚舟) was arrested on Dec. 1 in Canada on a US extradition request, after US authorities launched an investigation into alleged breaches of US sanctions on Iran by the Chinese firm.
Photo: George Tsorng, Taipei Times
Several nations have expressed national security concerns about the use of Huawei’s products, which have been dubbed a “Trojan horse,” Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Yu Wan-ju (余宛如) said.
The company has provided products to financial institutions to develop digital finance services, Yu said, urging the commission to ban domestic banks from using Huawei’s equipment.
Koo said that most banks in the nation use components made by IBM Corp in their servers, which he called their “core equipment.”
“I do not think Huawei has a high market share in terms of such equipment,” he said.
However, the commission would review the issue soon, Koo said, adding that it does not use any Chinese-made cybersecurity equipment.
Yu said that Taiwanese banks, including Web-only banks that are to be launched next year, should not be allowed to use any software or hardware made in China.
“At least state-owned banks should not use Huawei’s equipment, nor their chairpeople and presidents use Huawei smartphones or the messaging app WeChat (微信),” she said.
DPP Legislator Tsai Yi-yu (蔡易餘) said financial institutions that use Huawei’s products should detail the type of equipment they use.
Koo said he does not use WeChat.
“The FSC and financial institutions know that national security is important, but we have to confirm if such a ban is legal,” Koo said, adding that it is easier to ask state-run banks to ban Huawei’s products, but it would be another story for private banks.
Most Taiwanese banks use IBM products, so it would not be a problem if the commission were to ban the use of Huawei products in the financial sector, a bank manager told the Taipei Times by telephone on condition of anonymity.
Taichung reported the steepest fall in completed home prices among the six special municipalities in the first quarter of this year, data compiled by Taiwan Realty Co (台灣房屋) showed yesterday. From January through last month, the average transaction price for completed homes in Taichung fell 8 percent from a year earlier to NT$299,000 (US$9,483) per ping (3.3m²), said Taiwan Realty, which compiled the data based on the government’s price registration platform. The decline could be attributed to many home buyers choosing relatively affordable used homes to live in themselves, instead of newly built homes in the city’s prime property market, Taiwan Realty
The government yesterday approved applications by Alphabet Inc’s Google to invest NT$27.08 billion (US$859.98 million) in Taiwan, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said in a statement. The Department of Investment Review approved two investments proposed by Google, with much of the funds to be used for data processing and electronic information supply services, as well as inventory procurement businesses in the semiconductor field, the ministry said. It marks the second consecutive year that Google has applied to increase its investment in Taiwan. Google plans to infuse NT$25.34 billion into Charter Investments Ltd (特許投資顧問) through its Singapore-based subsidiary Fructan Holdings Singapore Pte Ltd, and
JET JUICE: The war on Iran’s secondary effects have seen fuel prices skyrocket, knocking flight schedules down to earth in return as airlines struggle with costs Airline passengers should brace for more irritation in the next few months as carriers worldwide cancel flights and ground planes to cope with stratospheric increases in jet-fuel prices. Dutch flag carrier KLM is the latest company to cut its schedule, saying on Thursday that it would scrap 80 return flights at Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport in the coming month. That puts it in the same league as United Airlines Holdings Inc, Deutsche Lufthansa AG and Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd, which have all pruned itineraries to mitigate costs. Global capacity for next month has been reduced by about 3 percentage points, with all
Micron Technology Inc is a driving force pushing the US Congress to pass legislation that would put new export restrictions on equipment its Chinese competitors use to make their chips, according to people familiar with the matter. A US House of Representatives panel yesterday was to vote on the “MATCH Act,” a bill designed to close gaps in restrictions on chipmaking equipment. It would also pressure foreign companies that sell equipment to Chinese chipmaking facilities to align with export curbs on US companies like Lam Research Corp and Applied Materials Inc. The bill targets facilities operated by China’s ChangXin Memory Technologies Inc
RSS