Steve Shieh (謝壽夫), chairman of the First Financial Holding Co, yesterday gained the media spotlight after a verbal fight with a pan-blue lawmaker in which he used an English-language expletive.
Lawmakers asked Shieh for an apology, and demanded that the Ministry of Finance reconsider keeping Shieh, 66, as the head of the state-run bank First Financial.
HEATED WORDS
The senior banker -- who spent the past 10 years at Taishin Commercial Bank before becoming chairman of First Financial in August 2003 -- was taking part in a regular question-and-answer session at the legislature's Finance Committee when he told Legislator Alex Fai (
"If you don't like coming here, then just resign," Fai, a member of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), told Shieh.
Standing next to Shieh, Minister of Finance Lin Chuan (
But as Shieh turned away from the microphone, he uttered the four-letter English-language expletive "shit," which was audible throughout the chamber.
Fai immediately stopped his questioning and demanded that Shieh repeat the word.
Committee chairman Liao Pen-yen (
The Legislative Yuan has been the scene of numerous brawls, fistfights and incidents of rival lawmakers hurling objects such as lunch boxes and books at each other.
`SHIT'-STORM
Regarding this storm in the teacup, First Financial executive vice president and spokesman Huang Hsien-chuan (
"He [Shieh] was simply very angry at the false rumors circulating around, thereby he burst out with something that people think was inappropriate," Huang said, referring to speculation that Shieh was intending to enter into merger talks with Taishin Financial.
As for Shieh's position at First Financial, Huang said that Shieh is employed by the government and that he would try his best to do his job.
Whether he would have to leave the post regarding the "shit" incident is not something Shieh can decide, Huang said on behalf of Shieh.
LONG FLIGHT: The jets would be flown by US pilots, with Taiwanese copilots in the two-seat F-16D variant to help familiarize them with the aircraft, the source said The US is expected to fly 10 Lockheed Martin F-16C/D Block 70/72 jets to Taiwan over the coming months to fulfill a long-awaited order of 66 aircraft, a defense official said yesterday. Word that the first batch of the jets would be delivered soon was welcome news to Taiwan, which has become concerned about delays in the delivery of US arms amid rising military tensions with China. Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said the initial tranche of the nation’s F-16s are rolling off assembly lines in the US and would be flown under their own power to Taiwan by way
CHIP WAR: The new restrictions are expected to cut off China’s access to Taiwan’s technologies, materials and equipment essential to building AI semiconductors Taiwan has blacklisted Huawei Technologies Co (華為) and Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corp (SMIC, 中芯), dealing another major blow to the two companies spearheading China’s efforts to develop cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) chip technologies. The Ministry of Economic Affairs’ International Trade Administration has included Huawei, SMIC and several of their subsidiaries in an update of its so-called strategic high-tech commodities entity list, the latest version on its Web site showed on Saturday. It did not publicly announce the change. Other entities on the list include organizations such as the Taliban and al-Qaeda, as well as companies in China, Iran and elsewhere. Local companies need
CRITICISM: It is generally accepted that the Straits Forum is a CCP ‘united front’ platform, and anyone attending should maintain Taiwan’s dignity, the council said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) yesterday said it deeply regrets that former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) echoed the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) “one China” principle and “united front” tactics by telling the Straits Forum that Taiwanese yearn for both sides of the Taiwan Strait to move toward “peace” and “integration.” The 17th annual Straits Forum yesterday opened in Xiamen, China, and while the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) local government heads were absent for the first time in 17 years, Ma attended the forum as “former KMT chairperson” and met with Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧). Wang
OBJECTS AT SEA: Satellites with synthetic-aperture radar could aid in the detection of small Chinese boats attempting to illegally enter Taiwan, the space agency head said Taiwan aims to send the nation’s first low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite into space in 2027, while the first Formosat-8 and Formosat-9 spacecraft are to be launched in October and 2028 respectively, the National Science and Technology Council said yesterday. The council laid out its space development plan in a report reviewed by members of the legislature’s Education and Culture Committee. Six LEO satellites would be produced in the initial phase, with the first one, the B5G-1A, scheduled to be launched in 2027, the council said in the report. Regarding the second satellite, the B5G-1B, the government plans to work with private contractors
RSS