The Legislative Yuan yesterday approved an amendment to the Securities and Exchange Act (證券交易法) to allow authorities to order the suspension of trading of shares in companies involved in food scandals.
Under the new rules of the act, securities authorities would also be allowed to order suspension in trading of a stock that is involved in any issue that undermines public safety, such as pollution.
Currently, the securities regulations stipulate that authorities are authorized to suspend the trading of a stock after taking into account a wide range of issues such as whether a stock’s suspension would send its value into a tailspin or damage market sentiment.
Photo: Lo Pei-der, Taipei Times
Under the current securities trading law, a listed company can face trading suspension if it is faced with legal action, is planning to announce a material transaction agreement soon, is involved in any fraudulent conduct or its stock price appears very volatile.
The bill to amend the securities law was submitted after the public strongly urged the government to protect investors if food scandals or environmental hazards occur that could trigger heavy selling in related stocks.
A series of food scandals emerged in the fourth quarter of last year, dealing a blow to consumer confidence. Among the food producers involved in the scandals, Wei Chuan Foods Corp (味全食品工業), a subsidiary of conglomerate Ting Hsin International Group (頂新集團), suffered a dive in its share price on the main board of the local bourse.
In late 2013, IC packaging and testing services provider Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (ASE, 日月光半導體) was involved in a pollution case when its K7 plant in Kaohsiung discharged untreated waste water into a river used for farm irrigation.
ASE was ordered to partially shut down its K7 plant, which caused a plunge in the firm’s share price on the Taiwan Stock Exchange.
Market analysts said that these incidents related to food security and environmental protection have caused heavy losses for investors, prompting calls for the government to tighten monitoring of stock trading.
A Chinese aircraft carrier group entered Japan’s economic waters over the weekend, before exiting to conduct drills involving fighter jets, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said yesterday. The Liaoning aircraft carrier, two missile destroyers and one fast combat supply ship sailed about 300km southwest of Japan’s easternmost island of Minamitori on Saturday, a ministry statement said. It was the first time a Chinese aircraft carrier had entered that part of Japan’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ), a ministry spokesman said. “We think the Chinese military is trying to improve its operational capability and ability to conduct operations in distant areas,” the spokesman said. China’s growing
Nine retired generals from Taiwan, Japan and the US have been invited to participate in a tabletop exercise hosted by the Taipei School of Economics and Political Science Foundation tomorrow and Wednesday that simulates a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan in 2030, the foundation said yesterday. The five retired Taiwanese generals would include retired admiral Lee Hsi-min (李喜明), joined by retired US Navy admiral Michael Mullen and former chief of staff of the Japan Self-Defense Forces general Shigeru Iwasaki, it said. The simulation aims to offer strategic insights into regional security and peace in the Taiwan Strait, it added. Foundation chair Huang Huang-hsiung
PUBLIC WARNING: The two students had been tricked into going to Hong Kong for a ‘high-paying’ job, which sent them to a scam center in Cambodia Police warned the public not to trust job advertisements touting high pay abroad following the return of two college students over the weekend who had been trafficked and forced to work at a cyberscam center in Cambodia. The two victims, surnamed Lee (李), 18, and Lin (林), 19, were interviewed by police after landing in Taiwan on Saturday. Taichung’s Chingshui Police Precinct said in a statement yesterday that the two students are good friends, and Lin had suspended her studies after seeing the ad promising good pay to work in Hong Kong. Lee’s grandfather on Thursday reported to police that Lee had sent
BUILDUP: US General Dan Caine said Chinese military maneuvers are not routine exercises, but instead are ‘rehearsals for a forced unification’ with Taiwan China poses an increasingly aggressive threat to the US and deterring Beijing is the Pentagon’s top regional priority amid its rapid military buildup and invasion drills near Taiwan, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday. “Our pacing threat is communist China,” Hegseth told the US House of Representatives Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense during an oversight hearing with US General Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “Beijing is preparing for war in the Indo-Pacific as part of its broader strategy to dominate that region and then the world,” Hegseth said, adding that if it succeeds, it could derail
RSS