Taiwanese companies that fell victim to imports of tainted milk from China last year may consider seeking compensation through arbitration or a compromise, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday.
MAC Deputy Minister Liu Teh-shun (劉德勳) said that as legal proceedings were time-consuming and had run into “many difficulties,” the Department of Health (DOH) was considering meeting local companies to find out whether they would be interested in pursuing other alternatives.
“Arbitration and settlement are a comparatively easier way for Taiwanese firms to get faster and more direct access to their Chinese suppliers,” he said.
Liu said arbitration or settlement were not initially considered because seeking legal recourse was usually the first priority and they needed to sort out creditors’ rights and debts.
Liu made the remarks during a press conference on the progress of the four agreements signed with Beijing in November last year. The four agreements addressed direct sea links, daily charter flights, direct postal services and food safety.
The accord on food safety was signed following the panic sparked in September last year by China’s export of 25 tonnes of milk powder containing traces of the industrial chemical melamine last June.
Twelve Taiwanese firms have asked for NT$700 million (US$21 million) in compensation from Duqing, the Chinese supplier of the contaminated non-dairy creamer, and from Sanlu, the now bankrupt dairy firm that also sold melamine-contaminated milk powder.
China has not responded to Taiwan’s requests for compensation.
New Tai Milk Products, the Taiwan branch of New Zealand-based Fonterra Ltd, is one of the Taiwanese firms asking for compensation.
Chang Min-ling (張敏玲), an assistant manager at New Tai Milk, said she did not think the company would be able to get any compensation because Sanlu was already bankrupt.
“We just hope it will end soon. After all, the company [Sanlu] went belly up,” she said. “It is more important for us to forget about the past and focus on the future.”
Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Tien Chiu-chin (田秋堇), who has been tracking China’s handling of the melamine controversy, told the Taipei Times that the crux of the problem was the agreement itself — which she described as “hollow” and “insincere.”
“During the negotiation process, the administration was all smiles like it was proposing to a girl and was reluctant to say anything that would make her unhappy,” she said.
The government also kept the legislature in the dark about the process and its content, she said, adding that the DPP was willing to play the “bad cop” if it could help the administration secure a better deal.
One year after the four accords were signed, Tien said she saw what she did not want to see, but expected a year ago.
“The Taiwanese companies are like sexually harassed women who just want to forget about the whole thing and don’t want to hear anyone talk about it,” she said.
Tien also criticized the DOH for being reluctant to help local firms. She said while the DOH has hired legal advisers, they provide the services only to the department, not to the Taiwanese companies, which must find their own lawyers at their own expense.
Many have given up hope because legal proceedings are time-consuming and costly, she said.
Not many of them want to see their relationship with the Chinese government turn sour, she said, adding that there is nothing they can do in if their own government does not back them up.
Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) was sentenced to six months in prison, commutable to a fine, by the New Taipei District Court today for contravening the Personal Data Protection Act (個人資料保護法) in a case linked to an alleged draft-dodging scheme. Wang allegedly paid NT$3.6 million (US$114,380) to an illegal group to help him evade mandatory military service through falsified medical documents, prosecutors said. He transferred the funds to Chen Chih-ming (陳志明), the alleged mastermind of a draft-evasion ring, although he lost contact with him as he was already in detention on fraud charges, they said. Chen is accused of helping a
SECURITY: Starlink owner Elon Musk has taken pro-Beijing positions, and allowing pro-China companies to control Taiwan’s critical infrastructure is risky, a legislator said Starlink was reluctant to offer services in Taiwan because of the nation’s extremely high penetration rates in 4G and 5G services, the Ministry of Digital Affairs said yesterday. The ministry made the comments at a meeting of the legislature’s Transportation Committee, which reviewed amendments to Article 36 of the Telecommunications Management Act (電信管理法). Article 36 bans foreigners from holding more than 49 percent of shares in public telecommunications networks, while shares foreigners directly and indirectly hold are also capped at 60 percent of the total, unless specified otherwise by law. The amendments, sponsored by Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Ko
UNREASONABLE SURVEILLANCE: A camera targeted on an road by a neighbor captured a man’s habitual unsignaled turn into home, netting him dozens of tickets The Taichung High Administrative Court has canceled all 45 tickets given to a man for failing to use a turn signal while driving, as it considered long-term surveillance of his privacy more problematic than the traffic violations. The man, surnamed Tseng (曾), lives in Changhua County and was reported 45 times within a month for failing to signal while driving when he turned into the alley where his residence is. The reports were filed by his neighbor, who set up security cameras that constantly monitored not only the alley but also the door and yard of Tseng’s house. The surveillance occurred from July
‘SAME OLD TRICK’: Even if Beijing resumes individual travel to Taiwan, it would only benefit Chinese tourism companies, the Economic Democracy Union convener said China’s 10 new “incentives” are “sugar-coated poison,” an official said yesterday, adding that Taiwanese businesses see them clearly for what they are, but that Beijing would inevitably find some local collaborators to try to drums up support. The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, made the remark ahead of a news conference the General Chamber of Commerce is to hold today. The event, titled “Industry Perspectives on China’s Recent Pro-Taiwan Policies,” is expected to include representatives from industry associations — such as those in travel, hotels, food and agriculture — to request the government cooperate with China’s new measures, people familiar with
RSS