Hon Hai Precision Industry Co chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) yesterday filed a defamation suit against radio host Clara Chou (周玉蔻), who identified Gou as the businessman who allegedly offered a NT$300 million (US$9.5 million) political donation to Taipei Mayor Ko Wen-je’s (柯文哲) opposition ahead of last year’s nine-in-one elections.
In a recent interview with the talk show This Is It (關鍵時刻) on the Eastern Broadcasting Co channel, Ko, citing Democratic Progressive Party caucus whip Ker Chien-ming (柯建銘), said he had rejected a meeting with “a certain entrepreneur” during his campaign for Taipei mayor, because the man had “invested” NT$300 million in Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) mayoral candidate Sean Lien (連勝文) and “did not wish to support other candidates.”
Chou on a TV program on Tuesday said that Gou was that man.
In response, Gou filed a libel suit against Chou seeking NT$10 million in compensation, a Hon Hai statement said.
Saying that Ko’s remark was a belligerent lie, Lien yesterday said he would withhold his legal right to sue Ko.
Separately, Chou raised doubts over the bidding process for the Taipei IT Park, a build-operate-transfer project launched by former Taipei mayor Hau Lung-bin’s (郝龍斌) administration to develop the Guanghua electronics market area, saying she suspected that the Hau administration had helped Hon Hai to secure the bid.
Chou questioned the eligibility of Cybermart — a Hon Hai subsidiary, which bid for the park project — to execute the NT$3.7 billion project, saying Cybermart was relatively inexperienced and had insufficient capital compared with its major competitor Clevo Co.
She said that Clevo should have won the bid instead, since it has owned and operated the largest IT distribution channel in China — Buynow shopping mall chain.
Chou added that Gou has covered up the fact that prosecutors are pursuing a breach of trust charge against several senior officials of Innolux Corp — one of Hon Hai’s major affiliates — because he wanted to secure an NT$80 billion repayment loan with interest rates as low as 1.8 percent from a syndicate led by Bank of Taiwan.
“China is preparing to invade Taiwan,” Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an exclusive interview with British media channel Sky News for a special report titled, “Is Taiwan ready for a Chinese invasion?” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said today in a statement. The 25-minute-long special report by Helen Ann-Smith released yesterday saw Sky News travel to Penghu, Taoyuan and Taipei to discuss the possibility of a Chinese invasion and how Taiwan is preparing for an attack. The film observed emergency response drills, interviewed baseball fans at the Taipei Dome on their views of US President
ECONOMIC BENEFITS: The imports from Belize would replace those from Honduras, whose shrimp exports have dropped 67 percent since cutting ties in 2023 Maintaining ties with Taiwan has economic benefits, Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials said yesterday, citing the approval of frozen whiteleg shrimp imports from Belize by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an example. The FDA on Wednesday approved the tariff-free imports from Belize after the whiteleg shrimp passed the Systematic Inspection of Imported Food, which would continue to boost mutual trade, the ministry said. Taiwan’s annual consumption of whiteleg shrimps stands at 30,000 tonnes, far exceeding domestic production, the ministry said. Taiwan used to fill the gap by importing shrimps from Honduras, but purchases slumped after Tegucigalpa severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan
The Executive Yuan yesterday approved a southwestern extension of the Sanying MRT Line from New Taipei to Bade District (八德) in Taoyuan, with a goal of starting construction by late 2026. The 4.03-kilometer extension, featuring three new stations, will run from the current terminus at Yingtao Fude Station (LB12) in New Taipei City to Dannan Station (LB14), where it will connect with Taoyuan’s Green Line, New Taipei City Metro Corp said in a statement. This extension will follow the completion of core Sanying Line, a 14.29-kilometer medium-capacity system linking Tucheng (土城), Sansia (三峽)
CARGO LOSS: About 50 containers at the stern of the ‘Ever Lunar’ cargo ship went overboard, prompting the temporary closure of the port and disrupting operations Evergreen Marine Corp, Taiwan’s largest container shipper, yesterday said that all crew members aboard the Ever Lunar (長月) were safe after dozens of containers fell overboard off the coast of Peru the previous day. The incident occurred at 9:40am on Friday as the Ever Lunar was anchored and waiting to enter the Port of Callao when it suddenly experienced severe rolling, Evergreen said in a statement. The rolling, which caused the containers to fall, might have been caused by factors including a tsunami triggered by an earthquake in Russia, poor winter sea conditions in South America or a sudden influx of waves,
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