An information technology company that provides key systems software for much of the country’s financial institutions is alleged to have been bought by a major China-based investor, an opposition legislator said.
The purchase has raised questions among Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) lawmakers on just how much of Taiwan’s sensitive financial data may have flown across the Taiwan Strait to Chinese companies.
DPP Legislator Pan Men-an (潘孟安) yesterday provided documents showing that Harmonation Inc, a company headquartered in Taipei, was 85 percent owned by Camelot Information Systems, a Chinese-run consulting company set up in Taiwan in 2006.
Camelot, the Beijing-headquartered parent company of the same name, also runs VLife Technology Co and Hwawei Information, two firms that also provide consulting and management services for banks and insurance providers, Pan said.
In addition, Harmonation Inc is also the sole provider of computer systems that grade test papers for public service exams and entrance examinations at colleges and universities.
“This means that Chinese-owned companies already have access to the financial data of millions of people nationwide. This is in addition to information from hundreds of thousands of university applicants,” Pan told the legislature.
Under new guidelines adopted in June for Chinese businesses that have investments in Taiwan, the three business run by Taiwan’s Camelot Information Systems should be classified as Chinese-run, as their parent company is run by Simon Ma (馬一鳴), a Chinese investor, Pan said.
The move would limit the companies’ abilities to participate in public tenders and could mean that Harmonation Inc would no longer be permitted to provide test paper grading systems for the government.
“That’s because down the road, this could have an impact on national security — especially as the Ministry of Economic Affairs is not properly addressing this issue,” Pan said.
Inquiries to Harmonation Inc were referred to managers at Camelot Information Systems, which by press time had yet to return requests for comment.
In a press release, the ministry yesterday defended its decision to classify Camelot and its subsidiaries as foreign-owned rather than Chinese-run companies.
The Beijing-headquartered parent of the company is registered in the British Virgin Islands and four of its six board members are British and US citizens, including Ma, the ministry said.
Yangmingshan National Park authorities yesterday urged visitors to respect public spaces and obey the law after a couple was caught on a camera livestream having sex at the park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) earlier in the day. The Shilin Police Precinct in Taipei said it has identified a suspect and his vehicle registration number, and would summon him for questioning. The case would be handled in accordance with public indecency charges, it added. The couple entered the park at about 11pm on Thursday and began fooling around by 1am yesterday, the police said, adding that the two were unaware of the park’s all-day live
Yangmingshan National Park’s Qingtiangang (擎天崗) nature area has gone viral after a park livestream camera observed a couple in the throes of intimate congress, which was broadcast live on YouTube, drawing large late-night crowds and sparking a backlash over noise, bright lights and disruption to wildlife habitat. The area’s livestream footage appeared to show a couple engaging in sexual activity on a picnic table in the park on Friday last week, with the uncensored footage streamed publicly online. The footage quickly spread across social media, prompting a tide of visitors to travel to the site to “check in” and recreate the
Fast food chain McDonald's is to raise prices by up to NT$5 on some products at its restaurants across Taiwan, starting on Wednesday next week, the company announced today. The prices of all extra value meals and sharing boxes are to increase by NT$5, while breakfast combos and creamy corn soup would go up by NT$3, the company said in a statement. The price of the main items of those meals, if ordered individually, would remain the same. Meanwhile, the price of a medium-sized lemon iced tea and hot cappuccino would rise by NT$3, extra dipping sauces for chicken nuggets would go up
Minister of Digital Affairs Lin Yi-ching (林宜敬) yesterday cited regulatory issues and national security concerns as an expert said that Taiwan is among the few Asian regions without Starlink. Lin made the remarks on Facebook after funP Innovation Group chief executive officer Nathan Chiu (邱繼弘) on Friday said Taiwan and four other countries in Asia — China, North Korea, Afghanistan and Syria — have no access to Starlink. Starlink has become available in 166 countries worldwide, including Ukraine, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam, in the six years since it became commercial, he said. While China and North Korea block Starlink, Syria is not
RSS