Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) Chairman Chiang Pin-kung (江丙坤) made an emotional appeal in a press release yesterday, rebutting the “false accusations” against him and his eldest son, Michael Chiang (江俊德), concerning alleged investments in China and profiteering from state-run companies.
Next Magazine reported yesterday that Chiang Pin-kung used his position as the minister of economic affairs in 1994 to help his son’s company, Istra Corp, by demanding that state-run steel business Kuei Yi Enterprise purchase items from Istra at a high price.
The magazine said the father-son duo had profited by brokering deals between Kuei Yi and other foreign companies, one of which turned out to be an international fraud ring.
Kuei Yi has been reorganized and renamed Dragon Steel after losing more than NT$5.2 billion (US$170 million).
“My eldest son sacrificed his own chances to advance his education to help raise his younger sister and brothers ... I have always made a strict request that he should never be involved in any state-run businesses,” the SEF chairman said in a statement.
Chiang Pin-kung also said in his statement that he had not played a role in the formation of Kuei Yi Enterprise as alleged in the article, adding that a court had already found that Istra had no relationship with Kuei Yi.
The recent accusations leveled against him, his family and SEF General-Secretary Kao Kong-lian (高孔廉) are probably “politically motivated to purposely tarnish the image of the organization [the SEF] and to impede the progress of peaceful cross-strait developments,” the SEF head said, stressing that his position as chairman was unpaid.
Democratic Progressive Party legislators were not convinced, however, and called on Chiang Pin-kung to step down.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY STAFF WRITER
Taiwan has received more than US$70 million in royalties as of the end of last year from developing the F-16V jet as countries worldwide purchase or upgrade to this popular model, government and military officials said on Saturday. Taiwan funded the development of the F-16V jet and ended up the sole investor as other countries withdrew from the program. Now the F-16V is increasingly popular and countries must pay Taiwan a percentage in royalties when they purchase new F-16V aircraft or upgrade older F-16 models. The next five years are expected to be the peak for these royalties, with Taiwan potentially earning
STAY IN YOUR LANE: As the US and Israel attack Iran, the ministry has warned China not to overstep by including Taiwanese citizens in its evacuation orders The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) yesterday rebuked a statement by China’s embassy in Israel that it would evacuate Taiwanese holders of Chinese travel documents from Israel amid the latter’s escalating conflict with Iran. Tensions have risen across the Middle East in the wake of US and Israeli airstrikes on Iran beginning Saturday. China subsequently issued an evacuation notice for its citizens. In a news release, the Chinese embassy in Israel said holders of “Taiwan compatriot permits (台胞證)” issued to Taiwanese nationals by Chinese authorities for travel to China — could register for evacuation to Egypt. In Taipei, the ministry yesterday said Taiwan
Taiwan is awaiting official notification from the US regarding the status of the Agreement on Reciprocal Trade (ART) after the US Supreme Court ruled US President Donald Trump's global tariffs unconstitutional. Speaking to reporters before a legislative hearing today, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said that Taiwan's negotiation team remains focused on ensuring that the bilateral trade deal remains intact despite the legal challenge to Trump's tariff policy. "The US has pledged to notify its trade partners once the subsequent administrative and legal processes are finalized, and that certainly includes Taiwan," Cho said when asked about opposition parties’ doubts that the ART was
If China chose to invade Taiwan tomorrow, it would only have to sever three undersea fiber-optic cable clusters to cause a data blackout, Jason Hsu (許毓仁), a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute and former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) legislator, told a US security panel yesterday. In a Taiwan contingency, cable disruption would be one of the earliest preinvasion actions and the signal that escalation had begun, he said, adding that Taiwan’s current cable repair capabilities are insufficient. The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) yesterday held a hearing on US-China Competition Under the Sea, with Hsu speaking on
RSS