Dismissed editors bring dispute to investment group

As former editors from the Taichung and Kaohsiung offices of the China Times protested yesterday over their sudden and unexplained dismissal, the president of the China Times Group, the main target of their fury, said he was unaware of the dismissals but that he would try to help them.

Thirty-three dismissed editors of the Chinese-language daily protested against members of two investment groups organized by the Commercial Times, a China Times-affiliated newspaper, as the latter prepared to depart for an investment trip to China at CKS International Airport yesterday morning. They later petitioned Yu Chi-chung (余紀忠), president of the China Times Group, which operates the prestigious newspaper.

The two groups were departing for Beijing and eastern China to evaluate prospects for future investment. Members of the groups would not respond publicly to the protests. Approached by reporters, some even denied they were members of the group even though they wore identification cards showing that they were.

The former editors handed out leaflets outlining their case to passengers at the airport and their leader made a speech condemning their sudden dismissals.

"We followed the China Times' localization policy and moved to Taichung and Kaohsiung but were unexpectedly fired after six years. The China Times has increased the unemployment rate in Taiwan, but seeks to increase Taiwanese investments in China, which completely conflicts with President Chen Shui-bian's (陳水扁) policy of considering Taiwan first," the editors' leaflet read.

The editors also portrayed themselves as an example of why the group's members should restrain themselves from investing in China.

"The China Times' investments in China have failed, and we have been dismissed to compensate for the financial problems caused by their failure." the petition said.

After the morning protest at CKS International Airport, the dismissed editors moved on to petition Yu Chi-chung (余紀忠), president of the China Times Group. Yu denied any knowledge of the sackings, but said he would help the former employees.

"Yu said that he had no idea about the dismissals, but he promised that he would help us," said Lo Ying-yin (羅英銀), one of the sacked editors.

Wu Chuan-ho (吳全和), a former editor from the newspaper's Kaohsiung office, said that they would continue their protests throughout this month and continue to push for an equitable result.