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Koo Kwan-min says he has not `sold out Taiwan'

Former senior adviser to the president Koo Kwan-min (辜寬敏) yesterday dismissed allegations that he had "sold out Taiwan" by selling two fishing boats to a Chinese company.

Koo said he sold the two fishing boats to a US company, but was fully aware that the US firm would sell the boats to a Chinese company.

Koo said he was not against the idea because it was simply a business move.

"Don't worry. I sell boats and I sell fish, but I don't sell Taiwan," the 81-year-old said.

Koo made the remarks in response to a report in yesterday's Chinese-language China Times, which quoted a Taiwanese resident of the Marshall Islands, Wang Bai-chi (王百祺), as saying that Koo, who has investments in the Marshall Islands' fishing industry, had sold two boats to a Chinese company and built two more in Taiwan.

The report quoted Wang as saying that Koo also helped the Chinese company purchase a tuna canning factory on the islands that is scheduled to reopen at the end of next month.

As the factory will create an estimated 500 job opportunities for the Marshall Islands, which has a population of about 50,000, the report said the move was a blow to Taiwan's diplomatic relations with the island state.

Koo dismissed the allegation that he had brokered the cannery deal, saying the Marshall Islands government had asked him whether he was interested in taking over the business.

He said he did not know that the Chinese company ended up buying the factory.

He lambasted the Council of Agriculture's Fisheries Agency for refusing to export the two new boats, which he said he had contracted a Taiwanese shipyard to build in Taiwan.

Koo said the contract was signed before the Fisheries Agency amended the rules on June 29, 2005 concerning the issuance of permits for fishing and the construction of fishing boats.

The agency visited the shipyard in August but did not tell Koo it disapproved of the construction of the two boats until Jan. 22 last year, Koo said.

The shipyard took the case to the Executive Yuan's Grievances Commission, which ruled in favor of Koo in October last year and again in May this year. The case is in the final appeal.

Koo criticized the Fisheries Agency for caving in to Japanese pressure to reduce the number of new fishing boats.

Koo said he would not ask President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) to help settle the matter, but did not rule out taking the case to the administrative court if the Fisheries Agency refuses to comply with the commission's ruling.

"When I think of how the government interferes with the rights and interests of its people, I am so angry I cannot sleep at night," he said.

Later yesterday, Minister of Foreign Affairs Spokesman David Huang (王建業) said the case would not affect the nation's relationship with the Marshall Islands as the deal was just business.

Chinese had set up garment factories in the Marshall Islands before the latter set up diplomatic relations with Taiwan, he said.

Additional reporting by Shih Hsiu-chuan
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