Ting Hsin International Group (頂新國際集團) chairman Wei Ying-chiao (魏應交) yesterday bowed to public and government pressure and relinquished his posts at Taipei Financial Center Corp (TFCC, 台北金融大樓公司), the firm that operates Taipei 101.
Wei, the elder brother of Wei Ying-chun (魏應充), who has been detained over alleged involvement in an oil adulteration scandal, offered to resign as TFCC vice chairman and president, Vice Minister of Finance Wu Tang-chieh (吳當傑) told a media briefing yesterday afternoon.
The elder Wei’s move came after government-appointed board directors at TFCC suggested that he voluntary resign to protect the company’s image at a board meeting in the morning.
Photo: Fang Pin-chao, Taipei Times
Wei Ying-chiao initially resisted the call, saying he acknowledged their opinions, but needed more time to think about the issue, TFCC spokesman Michael Liu (劉家豪) said, declining to speculate on Wei’s intentions.
However, the elder Wei tendered his resignation at 2pm to TFCC chairwoman Christina Sung (宋文琪), averting a showdown with the finance ministry.
A day earlier, the finance ministry had demanded that Ting Hsin should yield all its management posts at TFCC to the government.
The government owns a 44.35 percent stake and six seats on TFCC’s 13-member board, while Ting Hsin controls a 37.17 percent stake and has five seats, Wu said. CTBC Financial Holding Co (中信金控) and Cathay Financial Holding Co (國泰金控) own 7 percent and 6 percent stakes respectively and have one seat each, the vice finance minister said.
All the government-appointed directors rallied behind Sung after she said that Wei Ying-chiao should step down to help TFCC operate more smoothly.
Sung is to take over Wei Ying-chiao’s responsibilities at TFCC until the company finds a successor at its next board meeting later this week, the vice minister said.
Wei Ying-chiao would retain his seat on TFCC’s board, but his younger brother had forfeited his amid the tainted oil investigation, Wu said.
At noon, Minister of Finance Chang Sheng-ford (張盛和) said the ministry would call a board re-election and oust Wei Ying-chiao if he refused to resign.
The tainted cooking oil scandal has sparked a public outcry and scores of protesters staged a demonstration outside Taipei 101, demanding that the Wei family quit control of the landmark building and leave the local market altogether.
Taiwan is projected to lose a working-age population of about 6.67 million people in two waves of retirement in the coming years, as the nation confronts accelerating demographic decline and a shortage of younger workers to take their place, the Ministry of the Interior said. Taiwan experienced its largest baby boom between 1958 and 1966, when the population grew by 3.78 million, followed by a second surge of 2.89 million between 1976 and 1982, ministry data showed. In 2023, the first of those baby boom generations — those born in the late 1950s and early 1960s — began to enter retirement, triggering
ECONOMIC BOOST: Should the more than 23 million people eligible for the NT$10,000 handouts spend them the same way as in 2023, GDP could rise 0.5 percent, an official said Universal cash handouts of NT$10,000 (US$330) are to be disbursed late next month at the earliest — including to permanent residents and foreign residents married to Taiwanese — pending legislative approval, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. The Executive Yuan yesterday approved the Special Act for Strengthening Economic, Social and National Security Resilience in Response to International Circumstances (因應國際情勢強化經濟社會及民生國安韌性特別條例). The NT$550 billion special budget includes NT$236 billion for the cash handouts, plus an additional NT$20 billion set aside as reserve funds, expected to be used to support industries. Handouts might begin one month after the bill is promulgated and would be completed within
NO CHANGE: The TRA makes clear that the US does not consider the status of Taiwan to have been determined by WWII-era documents, a former AIT deputy director said The American Institute in Taiwan’s (AIT) comments that World War-II era documents do not determine Taiwan’s political status accurately conveyed the US’ stance, the US Department of State said. An AIT spokesperson on Saturday said that a Chinese official mischaracterized World War II-era documents as stating that Taiwan was ceded to the China. The remarks from the US’ de facto embassy in Taiwan drew criticism from the Ma Ying-jeou Foundation, whose director said the comments put Taiwan in danger. The Chinese-language United Daily News yesterday reported that a US State Department spokesperson confirmed the AIT’s position. They added that the US would continue to
IMPORTANT BACKER: China seeks to expel US influence from the Indo-Pacific region and supplant Washington as the global leader, MAC Minister Chiu Chui-cheng said China is preparing for war to seize Taiwan, Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said in Washington on Friday, warning that Taiwan’s fall would trigger a regional “domino effect” endangering US security. In a speech titled “Maintaining the Peaceful and Stable Status Quo Across the Taiwan Strait is in Line with the Shared Interests of Taiwan and the United States,” Chiu said Taiwan’s strategic importance is “closely tied” to US interests. Geopolitically, Taiwan sits in a “core position” in the first island chain — an arc stretching from Japan, through Taiwan and the Philippines, to Borneo, which is shared by
RSS