The government's investment in the cash-thirsty Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSRC,
"The court can only rule on the application for amendment to the regulations from a legal perspective, not on whether the investment is legal or not," Liu Shou-sung (
The government-backed China Aviation Development Foundation (
The foundation is the biggest shareholder of China Airlines Ltd (
According to the foundation's constitution, it was established to help develop the nation's aviation industry only.
To legitimize the THSRC investment, the foundation held a provisional board meeting and passed a constitutional amendment allowing investments in "major public construction projects," and filed an application with the Taipei District Court for the change.
The application, however, was overruled in January with the court declaring the calling of the board meeting last September an illegal procedure.
According to ministry regulations, the board meeting should have been convened and chaired by the then-chairman Lin Ling-san (
Furthermore, the board directors did not receive the notification and agenda 10 days prior to the meeting, as regulated by law. As the foundation did not appeal, the ruling is therefore irreversible, according to the Taipei District Court.
However, the court's decree then is not an indication that the investment in THSRC is illegal, Liu said.
The legitimacy of the investment should be determined by the court, which cannot rule on the case until a lawsuit is filed, he said.
Arthur Chiang (江金山), vice president of THSRC's administration division, said the NT$4.5 billion investment through purchase of THSRC preferred shares is legal, as the transaction has already been completed and was confirmed by a certified accountant last September.
As to the foundation's constitution, Chiang said the company cannot comment on the issue since it has no understanding of the foundation's internal operation.
"Our priority is to finish the construction and launch the high-speed railway service in October this year," Chiang said.
THSRC has postponed delivering the project for a year. As of January, the company has completed 93.49 percent of the construction, the company said.
Shares of THSRC advanced 1.21 percent to close at NT$7.53 on the Emerging Stock Market (
The first of 10 new high-capacity trains purchased from South Korea’s Hyundai Rotem arrived at the Port of Taipei yesterday to meet the demands of an expanding metro network, Taipei Rapid Transit Corp (TRTC) said yesterday. The train completed a three-day, 1,200km voyage from the Port of Masan in South Korea, the company said. Costing NT$590 million (US$18.79 million) each, the new six-carriage trains feature a redesigned interior based on "human-centric" transportation concepts, TRTC said. The design utilizes continuous longitudinal seating to widen the aisles and optimize passenger flow, while also upgrading passenger information displays and driving control systems for a more comfortable
Taiwan's first indigenous defense submarine, the SS-711 Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), departed for its 13th sea trial at 7am today, marking its seventh submerged test, with delivery to the navy scheduled for July. The outing also marked its first sea deployment since President William Lai (賴清德) boarded the submarine for an inspection on March 19, drawing a crowd of military enthusiasts who gathered to show support. The submarine this morning departed port accompanied by CSBC Corp’s Endeavor Manta (奮進魔鬼魚號) uncrewed surface vessel and a navy M109 assault boat. Amid public interest in key milestones such as torpedo-launching operations and overnight submerged trials,
Quarantine awareness posters at Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport have gone viral for their use of wordplay. Issued by the airport branch of the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Agency, the posters feature sniffer dogs making a range of facial expressions, paired with advisory messages built around homophones. “We update the messages for holidays and campaign needs, periodically refreshing materials to attract people’s attention,” quarantine officials said. “The aim is to use the dogs’ appeal to draw focus to quarantine regulations.” A Japanese traveler visiting Taiwan has posted a photo on X of a poster showing a quarantine dog with a
Taiwan’s coffee community has launched a “one-person-one-e-mail” campaign, calling for people to send a protest-e-mail to the World Coffee Championships (WCC) urging it to redesignate Taiwanese competitors as from “Taiwan,” rather than “Chinese Taipei.” The call followed sudden action last week after the WCC changed all references to Taiwanese competitors from “Taiwan” to “Chinese Taipei,” including recent World Latte Art champion Bala (林紹興), who won the World Latte Art Championship in San Diego earlier this month. When Bala received the trophy, he was referred to as representing Taiwan, as well as in the announcement on the WCC’s Web site, until it
RSS