Formosa Ha Tinh Steel Corp (台塑河靜鋼廠) chairman Lin Hsin-i (林信義) has tendered his resignation, two months after a riot by striking workers damaged the Vietnamese steelmaking unit of Formosa Plastics Group (FPG, 台塑集團).
The 68-year-old Lin, who has been with the nation’s largest industrial conglomerate for the past three years, decided to step down because he believed he has completed his mission for now, the group said in a statement yesterday.
Lin’s resignation came amid reports that Formosa Ha Tinh has been offered compensation of 50.35 billion Vietnamese dong (US$2.4 million) by insurance companies and the Vietnamese government for its losses in the anti-China protests in May, Central News Agency reported on Tuesday, citing Vietnamese media reports.
The company’s preliminary estimates indicate property losses of US$3 million from the unrest, which caused four deaths and injured 166 people, Formosa Ha Tinh Steel president Yang Hung-chi (楊鴻志) said on May 19.
Hong Fu-yuan (洪福源), president of the group’s Vietnamese unit, Formosa Industries Corp (台灣興業), said on July 10 the steel mill incurred losses of US$1.5 million a day when construction was suspended.
The group has spent about US$10 billion in the project, which will be capable of producing 700 million tonnes of steel a year when completed.
Group chairman William Wong (王文淵) said on June 10 that the timing of a resume to construction would depend on the relations between China and Vietnam.
On Wednesday last week, group vice chairman Susan Wang (王瑞華) signed a memorandum of understanding in Beijing with Guo Wenqing (國文清) — president of China Metallurgical Group Corp (中冶集團).
The memorandum is aimed at helping the group build the Vietnamese steel mill, covering personnel and property protection for Chinese subcontractors as well as requesting compensation from the Hanoi government, according to a statement posted by the Chinese state-owned miner on its Web site yesterday.
Formosa group yesterday said it appreciated Lin’s contribution in helping to build two furnaces in Ha Tinh Province, Vietnam, since November 2010, as well as his efforts to negotiate a resumption of construction at the Vietnamese steel mill over the past two months, including visits to Beijing and Hanoi.
The group said it accepted Lin’s resignation after it failed to persuade him to stay and is now looking for his replacement. Yang could be a potential successor to Lin, local media reported yesterday, but the group declined to comment.
Lin is a former vice premier and economic adviser to former president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁).
Additional reporting by Camaron Kao
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