President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) yesterday ordered the Cabinet to prepare to protect the Taiwan Stock Exchange from the fallout from roiling global markets, after the TAIEX fell to its worst-ever intra-day drop, burdened by falling Chinese equities and the nation’s stagnant economy.
Ma gave the instructions during the regular weekly meeting of the Cabinet and Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) at the Presidential Office Building, Presidential Office spokesman Charles Chen (陳以信) said.
The TAIEX plummeted a record 583.5 points — or 7.49 percent — to 7,203 at about 10:24am, before regaining some ground to end the trading day down 376.58 points, or 4.84 percent, at 7,410.34 on turnover of NT$144.886 billion (US$4.4 billion).
Premier Mao Chi-kuo (毛治國) had his aides convene a meeting of the National Stabilization Fund Committee to discuss whether to use the fund to bolster the local market amid the global turmoil, Executive Yuan spokesperson Sun Lih-chyun (孫立群) told reporters.
If the committee decides to allow the fund to be used to prevent a further decline in the TAIEX, the Cabinet would issue a statement to that effect, Sun said.
Mao has instructed Vice Premier Simon Chang (張善政) to closely monitor the situation and the measures that the relevant ministries are taking to address the stock market’s volatility, Sun said.
His instructions came one day after the government banned short-selling below the previous session’s closing prices and urged banks to buy back their stocks in a bid to stabilize the market.
Meanwhile, Legislative Speaker Wang Jin-pyng (王金平) said that the Legislative Yuan could convene its new session ahead of schedule to provide some alternatives for the government to stabilize the stock situation.
If such measures call for the amendment of laws, the legislature would be ready to act, Wang said.
The Legislative Yuan is scheduled to start its next session on Sept. 15.
The KMT is “willing to support an early start to the legislative session if the measure would help stabilize the stock market,” KMT Central Policy Committee executive director Lai Shyh-bao (賴士葆) said.
Democratic Progressive Party caucus whip Tsai Chi-chang (蔡其昌) said both parties would have to meet and discuss the viability of such a move.
It is not as if the local market would rebound simply because the Legislative Yuan is to begin its session early, Tsai said.
Taiwan has arranged for about 8 million barrels of crude oil, or about one-third of its monthly needs, to be shipped from the Red Sea this month to bypass the Strait of Hormuz and ease domestic supply pressures, CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) said yesterday. The state-run oil company has worked with Middle Eastern suppliers to secure routes other than the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 20 percent of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas typically passes, CPC chairman Fang Jeng-zen (方振仁) said at a meeting of the legislature’s Economics Committee in Taipei. Suppliers in Saudi Arabia have indicated they
South Korea has adjusted its electronic arrival card system to no longer list Taiwan as a part of China, a move that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said would help facilitate exchanges between the two sides. South Korea previously listed “Taiwan” as “Taiwan (China)” in the drop-down menus of its online arrival card system, where people had to fill out where they came from and their next destination. The ministry had requested South Korea make a revision and said it would change South Korea’s name on Taiwan’s online immigration system from “Republic of Korea” to “Korea (South),” should the issue not be
Tainan, Taipei and New Taipei City recorded the highest fines nationwide for illegal accommodations in the first quarter of this year, with fines issued in the three cities each exceeding NT$7 million (US$220,639), Tourism Administration data showed. Among them, Taipei had the highest number of illegal short-term rental units, with 410. There were 3,280 legally registered hotels nationwide in the first quarter, down by 14 properties, or 0.43 percent, from a year earlier, likely indicating operators exiting the market, the agency said. However, the number of unregistered properties rose to 1,174, including 314 illegal hotels and 860 illegal short-term rental
AIR ALERT: China’s reservation of airspace over the Yellow Sea and East China Sea could be an attempt to test the US’ response ahead of a Trump-Xi meeting, the NSB head said China’s attempts to infiltrate Taiwan are systematic, planned and targeted, with activity shifting from recruiting mid-level military officers to rank-and-file enlisted personnel, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday. The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) integrates national security, intelligence operations and “united front” efforts into a dense network to conduct intelligence gathering and espionage in Taiwan, Tsai said at a meeting of the legislature’s Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee. It uses specific networks to screen targets through exchange activities and recruiting local collaborators to establish intelligence-gathering organizations, he said. China is also shifting who it targets to lower-ranking military personnel,
RSS