Vice Premier Wu Rong-i (
However, investors expressed less confidence as financial stocks continued to drop, shedding 1.4 percent yesterday compared with the 0.6 percent decrease of the weighted price index of the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Wu's press conference was called after the stock market closed.
He said the banking sector was overcrowded and had to help nurture "national champions" that could compete with international financial institutions through consolidation.
The financial reform goals laid out by President Chen Shui-bian (
Chen also hoped to encourage at least one domestic bank to list shares overseas or turn its management over to a foreign owner by next year.
Lawmakers have slammed the government's reform plan, arguing that it means to benefit certain private, family-run enterprises.
Selling state-run banks such as Taiwan Business Bank would help lower state-controlled lenders' market share to about 45 percent from 56 percent, Minister of Finance Lin Chuan (
Presidential Office Secretary-General Yu Shyi-kun, speaking at another event yesterday, stressed that the reform goals were based on a consensus reached by politicians across the political spectrum and business representatives in 2001 to slash the government's stake in banks to less than 20 percent within five years.
"Taiwan's banking institutions must achieve economies of scale to survive global competition," Yu said, adding that the government was confident the reforms would be accomplished on schedule.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique