The Taipei City Government announced the breakdown of negotiations with the management of the Taipei New Horizon (臺北文創) complex late on Friday, with daily NT$50,000 (US$1,626) fines to be levied against the firm for contract violations.
The city’s Department of Cultural Affairs said the breakdown came after four rounds of talks had failed to make meaningful progress, with the firm rejecting the city’s timeline for the Fubon Group (富邦集團) and Taiwan Mobile (台灣大哥大) to vacate their office space within the building.
The talks had been initiated in January following controversy over site usage and royalties.
Photo: CNA
Although the high-rise complex was intended to promote cultural and creative industries, city councilors have alleged that it has in practice served as a corporate headquarters, with the majority of floor space rented out as office space to subsidiaries of the Fubon Group and Taiwan Mobile Co, which together own the development’s contractor.
The Department of Cultural Affairs had demanded that Taiwan Mobile vacate a floor of the building by Friday, also demanding that less than 50 percent of the building’s office space be occupied by Taiwan Mobile and the Fubon Group by August.
The department announced that it would begin fining the firm NT$50,000 a day for violating contract provisions over site usage until the firm corrects the situation. It added that it does not rule out terminating the firm’s contract and buying out the firm’s lease if no improvements are made.
The department estimates that the firm’s current contractual royalties for using city-owned land shortchange the city by NT$3.6 billion to NT$7.2 billon, based on a January land-value appraisal by outside firms.
Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) on Friday said the breakdown in negotiations was expected and that there was no need to be anxious, because the city was “not finished yet.”
He added that he would personally oversee the city’s next moves.
Taipei City Councilor Wang Wei-chung (王威中) of the Democratic Progressive Party said the city lost its most important bargaining chip against Taipei New Horizon in December last year when the administration of former Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌), of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), granted the registration certificate for the complex’s hotel.
Meanwhile, Taipei New Horizon said in a press release that the city government’s deadline for Taiwan Mobile to vacate the building was too rushed and would seriously harm profit due to the difficulty of finding an alternative tenant.
It added that the city government’s demands had already gone beyond the spirit of its original contract.
It said the city government should consider buying out the firm’s site lease for its full market value if it insisted on pushing its demands.
The Department of Cultural Affairs said that Taipei New Horizon’s registration estimates the building to be worth about NT$6 billion.
The city government has yet to conduct its own appraisal.
Additional reporting by Kuo An-chia
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2