The government will launch an investigation into a Chinese technology company that had won a tender to install a security system at the Taichung Power Plant, following the firm’s blacklisting by the US, Minister of Economic Affairs Sheng Jong-chin (沈榮津) said yesterday.
New Power Party Legislator Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) at a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Economics Committee asked Shen whether using a facial recognition system designed by Megvii Technology Ltd (曠視科技) at the plant raises national security concerns.
Megvii Technology on Sept. 12 won the tender to install a facial recognition security system at the plant, but was this month blacklisted by the US government for human rights violations in China’s Xinjiang region.
Shen said he would instruct the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ State-Owned Enterprise Commission to examine the blacklisted firms, and instruct the Information Management Center to review the matter.
The system is used to monitor contractors entering and leaving the power plant, he said, adding that employees of state-run Taiwan Power Co (台電) are not included in it.
The US Department of Commerce on Oct. 7 blacklisted 28 Chinese entities — the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region People’s Government Public Security Bureau, 18 of its subordinate security bureaus and one other subordinate institute, as well as eight companies — for being implicated in human rights violations and abuses in the region.
The other blacklisted companies are: Hikvision Digital Technology Dahua Technology Co (海康威視), iFlytek Co (科大訊飛), Sense Time Group Ltd (商湯科技), Meiya Pico Information Co (美亞柏科信息), Yixin Science and Technology Co (溢鑫科創) and Yitu Technologies (依圖科技).
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last