The buyout of the Next Media Group has set off a wave of civic protests. Among the buyers participating in the buyout, only the Formosa Plastics Group (FPG) has filed a merger report because it obtained more than one-third of the Next Media shares through an overseas subsidiary. The remaining buyers, including Want Want Group, have not filed such a report.
Article 6 of the Fair Trade Act (公平交易法) defines the main components that constitute a merger. In paragraph two of this article a merger is defined as the acquisition of “more than one-third of the total voting shares or total capital” of another enterprise. FPG clearly meets this criteria.
Paragraph four of the article adds that a “merger” also refers to a situation “where an enterprise operates jointly with another enterprise on a regular basis or is entrusted by another enterprise to operate the latter’s business.” This means that even if some of the buyers participating in a merger do not acquire more than one-third of the shares, they are still parties to the merger. The other buyers involved in the Next Media Group takeover meet these requirements.
In handling the merger application by Hitachi and the five other companies who joined together to buy One-Blue LLC in 2011, the Fair Trade Commission determined that all the buyers were part of the merger in accordance with the regulations in the aforementioned paragraph. This can be used as an example as to why the other buyers of Next Media are also parties to the merger and are legally required to submit a merger application.
According to Article 8 of the Enforcement Rules of the Fair Trade Act and the commission, a merger report should be submitted jointly by all participants in a merger.
According to a commission precedent, if a party does not submit the required documents, the report is incomplete and fails to comply with the rules. The commission will then set a time limit for submitting supplementary documents. Documents submitted after the expiration of this time limit will not be accepted by the commission.
Since FPG is the only buyer that has submitted a report in this case, and the other buyers have not, the commission should request that they do so. If they refuse to, the commission is required by law to return the merger application.
If the commission does return the application, that does not mean that the Next Media case has been completed, instead it means that the merger application has been rejected.
According to paragraph 3 in Article 11 of the Fair Trade Act, if a merger report is not submitted when it should have been, the application is incomplete and the merger cannot go ahead.
The commission should closely monitor the Next Media case. Should the buyers proceed with the merger in violation of the law, an order prohibiting the merger should be issued.
Shih Jun-ji is a research fellow at the Research Center for the Humanities and Social Sciences at the Academia Sinica. Flora Chang is a professor at National Taiwan University’s Graduate Institute of Journalism. Huang Kuo-chang is an associate research fellow at the Institutum Iurisprudentiae of the Academia Sinica.
Translated by Perry Svensson
Recently, China launched another diplomatic offensive against Taiwan, improperly linking its “one China principle” with UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 to constrain Taiwan’s diplomatic space. After Taiwan’s presidential election on Jan. 13, China persuaded Nauru to sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Nauru cited Resolution 2758 in its declaration of the diplomatic break. Subsequently, during the WHO Executive Board meeting that month, Beijing rallied countries including Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Belarus, Egypt, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka, Laos, Russia, Syria and Pakistan to reiterate the “one China principle” in their statements, and assert that “Resolution 2758 has settled the status of Taiwan” to hinder Taiwan’s
Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s (李顯龍) decision to step down after 19 years and hand power to his deputy, Lawrence Wong (黃循財), on May 15 was expected — though, perhaps, not so soon. Most political analysts had been eyeing an end-of-year handover, to ensure more time for Wong to study and shadow the role, ahead of general elections that must be called by November next year. Wong — who is currently both deputy prime minister and minister of finance — would need a combination of fresh ideas, wisdom and experience as he writes the nation’s next chapter. The world that
Can US dialogue and cooperation with the communist dictatorship in Beijing help avert a Taiwan Strait crisis? Or is US President Joe Biden playing into Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) hands? With America preoccupied with the wars in Europe and the Middle East, Biden is seeking better relations with Xi’s regime. The goal is to responsibly manage US-China competition and prevent unintended conflict, thereby hoping to create greater space for the two countries to work together in areas where their interests align. The existing wars have already stretched US military resources thin, and the last thing Biden wants is yet another war.
As Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu’s party won by a landslide in Sunday’s parliamentary election, it is a good time to take another look at recent developments in the Maldivian foreign policy. While Muizzu has been promoting his “Maldives First” policy, the agenda seems to have lost sight of a number of factors. Contemporary Maldivian policy serves as a stark illustration of how a blend of missteps in public posturing, populist agendas and inattentive leadership can lead to diplomatic setbacks and damage a country’s long-term foreign policy priorities. Over the past few months, Maldivian foreign policy has entangled itself in playing