E-commerce Web site Taobao Taiwan (淘寶台灣) is under investigation by the Investment Commission, which on Sunday said that it received a report that a Chinese investor holds a more than 30 percent stake in the company, in contravention of Taiwanese law.
Taobao Taiwan was launched last year by Claddagh Venture Investment Co (克雷達投資), which is registered in the UK and reportedly linked to China’s Taobao Marketplace (淘寶), which is run by e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (阿里巴巴).
According to the complaint, Taobao Taiwan shares a platform with Taobao Marketplace, which means there is technically no independence, an Investment Commission official said.
Furthermore, the two Taobaos have a common privacy policy, prompting concerns over the privacy and security of the personal information of Taiwanese, the official said, citing the complaint.
The commission, in collaboration with the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), has been gathering data and information in a probe into the matters and the issue of Taobao Taiwan’s ownership, the official said.
Under Taiwan’s law, Chinese investors must obtain permission from the government to directly or indirectly acquire a stake of more than 30 percent in any Taiwanese company, the official said.
Taobao Taiwan spokesman Ko Chung-ning (柯中甯) denied the allegations that Taobao Taiwan and Taobao Marketplace share a platform and privacy agreement.
The two companies have different platforms and people who register on Taobao Taiwan do not need to sign a privacy agreement with Taobao Marketplace in China, Ko said.
Some products on Taobao Taiwan are sold by overseas suppliers and the privacy agreement is aimed at regulating those companies and ensuring the quality of their products sold to Taiwanese, he said.
The terms of the agreement apply mainly to overseas suppliers, not to shoppers in Taiwan, he said.
Taobao Taiwan sells a wide selection of products, ranging from clothing and stationery to kitchenware and home appliances.
CAUTIOUS RECOVERY: While the manufacturing sector returned to growth amid the US-China trade truce, firms remain wary as uncertainty clouds the outlook, the CIER said The local manufacturing sector returned to expansion last month, as the official purchasing managers’ index (PMI) rose 2.1 points to 51.0, driven by a temporary easing in US-China trade tensions, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The PMI gauges the health of the manufacturing industry, with readings above 50 indicating expansion and those below 50 signaling contraction. “Firms are not as pessimistic as they were in April, but they remain far from optimistic,” CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said at a news conference. The full impact of US tariff decisions is unlikely to become clear until later this month
With an approval rating of just two percent, Peruvian President Dina Boluarte might be the world’s most unpopular leader, according to pollsters. Protests greeted her rise to power 29 months ago, and have marked her entire term — joined by assorted scandals, investigations, controversies and a surge in gang violence. The 63-year-old is the target of a dozen probes, including for her alleged failure to declare gifts of luxury jewels and watches, a scandal inevitably dubbed “Rolexgate.” She is also under the microscope for a two-week undeclared absence for nose surgery — which she insists was medical, not cosmetic — and is
GROWING CONCERN: Some senior Trump administration officials opposed the UAE expansion over fears that another TSMC project could jeopardize its US investment Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) is evaluating building an advanced production facility in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and has discussed the possibility with officials in US President Donald Trump’s administration, people familiar with the matter said, in a potentially major bet on the Middle East that would only come to fruition with Washington’s approval. The company has had multiple meetings in the past few months with US Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and officials from MGX, an influential investment vehicle overseen by the UAE president’s brother, the people said. The conversations are a continuation of talks that
CHIP DUTIES: TSMC said it voiced its concerns to Washington about tariffs, telling the US commerce department that it wants ‘fair treatment’ to protect its competitiveness Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) yesterday reiterated robust business prospects for this year as strong artificial intelligence (AI) chip demand from Nvidia Corp and other customers would absorb the impacts of US tariffs. “The impact of tariffs would be indirect, as the custom tax is the importers’ responsibility, not the exporters,” TSMC chairman and chief executive officer C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said at the chipmaker’s annual shareholders’ meeting in Hsinchu City. TSMC’s business could be affected if people become reluctant to buy electronics due to inflated prices, Wei said. In addition, the chipmaker has voiced its concern to the US Department of Commerce
RSS