The Investment Commission yesterday said it has determined that Taobao Taiwan (淘寶台灣) is a Chinese-controlled company operating illegally in Taiwan.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs (MOEA) commission has fined the e-commerce site NT$410,000 (US$13,890) and required it to divest or change its investment structure within six months to conform with laws pertaining to Chinese companies in Taiwan.
Taobao Taiwan is owned and operated by Claddagh Venture Investment Ltd (英商克雷達投資), a UK-based company 28.77 percent held by Alibaba Group Holding Ltd (阿里巴巴).
Photo: CNA
However, the commission said Taobao Taiwan is actually controlled by Alibaba Group, which is in contravention of the Act Governing Relations Between the People of the Taiwan Area and the Mainland Area (臺灣地區與大陸地區人民關係條例).
“It is little more than a piece of signage. Behind the scenes, the one in control is Alibaba Group,” commission spokesman Su Chi-yen (蘇琪彥) said.
Claddagh’s company statute says that the board member representing Alibaba’s stake must be present at any board meeting, the commission said.
“According to the way the company statute is written, the other two members of Claddagh Venture Investment cannot convene a board meeting on their own. This means Alibaba Group has a veto on any decision relating to Taobao Taiwan,” Su said.
Claddagh is completely reliant on Alibaba for the operation of Taobao Taiwan, the commission said.
Claddagh shares a URL, IT system maintenance and technical support with Alibaba, while Taobao Taiwan’s servers and other network equipment are rented from Taobao Hong Kong (淘寶香港), it said.
“There is no evidence that Claddagh Venture Investment is capable of running Taobao Taiwan independently,” Su said.
Taobao Taiwan users are also required to sign a service and privacy agreement with Taobao in China, leading to data safety concerns, he said.
“On its Web site, you cannot sign up to Taobao Taiwan without signing a terms of service agreement with Taobao [China],” he added.
The Taobao Taiwan Web site says users must agree to its world Taobao service platform service and privacy policy to sign up.
However, Taobao Taiwan spokeswoman Kay Ko (柯中甯) denied the company was controlled by Alibaba, saying the commission’s announcement “caught the company off guard.”
“We have worked with the Investment Commission every step of the way, and we will keep working with the commission and not let this disrupt our operations,” Ko said. “I must reiterate again, Taobao Taiwan is an independent company not under the control of Alibaba Group. I am not at liberty to disclose who the other investors in Claddagh Venture Investment are, but the Investment Commission is aware.”
The terms of service agreement “will be gone by tomorrow,” she said.
Taobao tried to operate in Taiwan through a Hong Kong company set up in 2013, but the commission in 2015 determined that the investment came from China and ordered the company to divest.
It must come up with a plan to conform with the law if it does not want to repeat history, the commission said.
“They do not have six months to come up with a plan, they must come up with a plan immediately that can be fully implemented in six months,” Su said.
RETHINK? The defense ministry and Navy Command Headquarters could take over the indigenous submarine project and change its production timeline, a source said Admiral Huang Shu-kuang’s (黃曙光) resignation as head of the Indigenous Submarine Program and as a member of the National Security Council could affect the production of submarines, a source said yesterday. Huang in a statement last night said he had decided to resign due to national security concerns while expressing the hope that it would put a stop to political wrangling that only undermines the advancement of the nation’s defense capabilities. Taiwan People’s Party Legislator Vivian Huang (黃珊珊) yesterday said that the admiral, her older brother, felt it was time for him to step down and that he had completed what he
Taiwan has experienced its most significant improvement in the QS World University Rankings by Subject, data provided on Sunday by international higher education analyst Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) showed. Compared with last year’s edition of the rankings, which measure academic excellence and influence, Taiwanese universities made great improvements in the H Index metric, which evaluates research productivity and its impact, with a notable 30 percent increase overall, QS said. Taiwanese universities also made notable progress in the Citations per Paper metric, which measures the impact of research, achieving a 13 percent increase. Taiwanese universities gained 10 percent in Academic Reputation, but declined 18 percent
CHINA REACTS: The patrol and reconnaissance plane ‘transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,’ the 7th Fleet said, while Taipei said it saw nothing unusual The US 7th Fleet yesterday said that a US Navy P-8A Poseidon flew through the Taiwan Strait, a day after US and Chinese defense heads held their first talks since November 2022 in an effort to reduce regional tensions. The patrol and reconnaissance plane “transited the Taiwan Strait in international airspace,” the 7th Fleet said in a news release. “By operating within the Taiwan Strait in accordance with international law, the United States upholds the navigational rights and freedoms of all nations.” In a separate statement, the Ministry of National Defense said that it monitored nearby waters and airspace as the aircraft
UNDER DISCUSSION: The combatant command would integrate fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups to defend waters closest to the coastline, a source said The military could establish a new combatant command as early as 2026, which would be tasked with defending Taiwan’s territorial waters 24 nautical miles (44.4km) from the nation’s coastline, a source familiar with the matter said yesterday. The new command, which would fall under the Naval Command Headquarters, would be led by a vice admiral and integrate existing fast attack boat and anti-ship missile groups, along with the Naval Maritime Surveillance and Reconnaissance Command, said the source, who asked to remain anonymous. It could be launched by 2026, but details are being discussed and no final timetable has been announced, the source