The Control Yuan yesterday censured the Executive Yuan for shortcomings in its management of cross-strait trade and relations.
In its report, the watchdog body cited the executive branch's alleged flaws over the 1996 decision to introduce the "no haste, be patient" policy, efforts to prevent loan defaults by Taiwanese investors in China and to facilitate Taiwanese financial institutions providing services in China.
The report was issued approximately one year after the Control Yuan's investigation began.
The censure said, "The Executive Yuan appears flawed for failing to prevent [debt-laden] businessmen from disposing of their assets in Taiwan ... it has not adopted effective and timely measures to authorize domestic banks to provide financial services in China ... and absented itself inappropriately from the making of the `no haste, be patient policy.'"
Control Yuan member Huang Huang-shien (黃煌雄) said: "The few unethical Taiwanese businessmen who have defaulted on loans in Taiwan but invested in China are to be condemned. The Executive Yuan is to be censured for failing to resolve such problems."
A number of businesspeople are suspected of selling all their assets in Taiwan before investing in China so they can stay there and not have to return home and pay off their loans -- thereby contributing to the high non-performing loans ratio of domestic banks.
The director of the Mainland Affairs Council's Department of Economic Affairs, Fu Don-cheng (傅棟成), said at a news conference yesterday that the government "continues to monitor the businessmen in question and is adopting a stricter inspection system to lower the ratio of bad debt in domestic banks.
The Cabinet was also criticized for "not taking vigorous measures to enable domestic financial institutions to provide financial services in China to Taiwanese businessmen who invest there," thereby damaging Taiwan's competitiveness.
But Fu reminded reporters that Beijing prohibited Taiwanese banks from establishing branches before China joined the WTO last December, one month before Taiwan acceded to the organization.
"Since both China and Taiwan joined the WTO, we have started to accelerate the opening up of Taiwan's financial institutions in China," Fu said.
The final matter earning the executive branch censure dates back to 1996. The Cabinet was chastised for its non-participation in the decision-making process to introduce then president Lee Teng-hui's (李登輝) "no haste, be patient" policy.
That policy was abandoned by the DPP government last year.
The Executive Yuan must respond to the censure within two months by outlining remedial action it has taken and plans to take.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft