Chi Mei hit by rumors from China

Chinese officials yesterday denied that the Tainan-based Chi Mei Corporation (奇美) will be restricted from investing in China in the future and that one of the company's petrochemical plants in China had been shut.

High-ranking cross-strait officials in Taiwan, however, said last night that the reports still needed to be verified.

Local media reported yesterday that Chi Mei's owner Shi Wen-lung's (許文龍) recent remarks advocating Taiwan independence have proked the action by Beijing. Shi is also a senior advisor to President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).

Vice Minister of Economic Affairs Lin Yi-fu (林義夫) said yesterday that his ministry has not received any information related to the report so far.

Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council vice chairman, Chen Ming-tung (陳明通), appealed to Beijing to stop confusing politics with business.

"We will deal with the case very carefully and verify the information as soon as possible," Chen said.

"We hope that China will respect the principles of the free market," Chen added.

According to some local media reports, Taiwan businessmen in China have confirmed that Beijing has made it clear that it will reject any investment projects proposed by Chi Mei in the future and that it would close the company's plant in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu Province, which was established in 1996.

However, Chi Mei's vice general manager, Hsu Chun-hua (許春華), who is also president of the company's plant in Zhenjiang, said yesterday that he was not aware of any plant closure.

"We plan to invest over US$500 million in Zhenjiang to expand our plant, which is highly respected by Chinese leaders," Hsu said yesterday morning.

"Having made inquires with Zhenjiang officials I can confirm that these rumors [about the shutting down of the plant] are not true," Hsu added.

Beijing authorities are apparently angry with Shi's remarks about Taiwan independence in the controversial Japanese comic book On Taiwan (台灣論) by Japanese cartoonist Yohinori Kobayashi, according to reports in the local media.

In the comic, Shi criticizes China and praises Japanese rule of Taiwan, and also says that the Sino-Japanese war was trigged by the trickery of the Chinese Communist Party.

Shi also raised heckles in the comic by insisting that Taiwanese women enslaved by the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II as sex workers were in fact willing prostitutes.

Shi publicly supported Chen Shui-bian during last year's presidential campaign.

Chi Mei's Chinese plants have come under intensified scrutiny by Chinese authorities since Chen's inauguration on May 20 of last year.