The Economic Democracy Union yesterday urged the Ministry of Economic Affairs to block the proposed acquisition of the Apple Online news Web site by Singaporean entrepreneur Joseph Phua (潘杰賢), citing concerns over his ties with Beijing.
The think tank at a news conference in Taipei said that a major business partner of Phua is involved in businesses linked to the Chinese government.
Phua’s potential buyout of the digital tabloid — linked to Hong Kong’s shuttered Apple Daily newspaper — became an object of public scrutiny following allegations that he could be purchasing the online news outlet for Beijing.
Hsin Hai Global Co, a company Phua registered for the deal, has NT$30,000 of listed capital, which is not enough to buy the Web site, Economic Democracy Union researchers said.
That means money for the deal most likely originated from Phua’s business partner, Zhang Zhongyu (張鐘予), who co-owns Shanghai-based Turn Capital with Phua, they said.
The investment company — and by extension Zhang — has played a key role in building Phua’s business empire, Economic Democracy Union researcher Hsu Kuan-tze (許冠澤) said.
That includes Phua founding the dating Web site Paktor in 2014, buying the streaming platform 17Live in 2014 and the Taiwanese blockchain firm Dapp Pocket last year, Hsu said.
Zhang is well-known in China’s artificial intelligence (AI) sector and a partner of Lantern Capital, a company with deep ties to the Chinese Communist Party, the Chinese government and China’s People’s Liberation Army, he said.
“Zhang played an important role as the financier of Phua’s business empire and [the two] are working together as partners in Turn Capital,” he said. “Saying China has no hand in the Apple [Online] deal is absurd.”
According to the investment company’s now-deleted corporate profile, Lantern Capital is involved in financing big data, AI, external propaganda outlets and arms ranging from precision-guided munitions to armored vehicles and drones, researcher Ou Hsu-shao (歐栩韶) said.
In response, Phua issued a statement saying that his business receives no capital from the Chinese state or its affiliates, and that Zhang is not a Chinese citizen and has nothing to do with the deal to buy the Web site.
“This acquisition has given me a taste of Taiwanese democracy,” he said.
Eight restaurants in Taiwan yesterday secured a one-star rating from the Michelin Guide Taiwan for the first time, while three one-star restaurants from last year’s edition were promoted to two stars. Forty-three restaurants were awarded one star this year, including 34 in Taipei, five in Taichung and four in Kaohsiung. Hosu (好嶼), Chuan Ya (川雅), Sushi Kajin (鮨嘉仁), aMaze (心宴), La Vie by Thomas Buhner, Yuan Yi (元一) and Frassi in Taipei and Front House (方蒔) in Kaohsiung received a one-star rating for the first time. Hosu is known for innovative Taiwanese dishes, while Chuan Ya serves Sichuan cuisine and aMaze specializes
STATS: Taiwan’s average life expectancy of 80.77 years was lower than that of Japan, Singapore and South Korea, but higher than in China, Malaysia and Indonesia Taiwan’s average life expectancy last year increased to 80.77 years, but was still not back to its pre-COVID-19 pandemic peak of 81.32 years in 2020, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. The average life expectancy last year increased the 0.54 years from 2023, the ministry said in a statement. For men and women, the average life expectancy last year was 77.42 years and 84.30 years respectively, up 0.48 years and 0.56 years from the previous year. Taiwan’s average life expectancy peaked at 81.32 years in 2020, as the nation was relatively unaffected by the pandemic that year. The metric
Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp. (THSRC) plans to ease strained capacity during peak hours by introducing new fare rules restricting passengers traveling without reserved seats in 2026, company Chairman Shih Che (史哲) said Wednesday. THSRC needs to tackle its capacity issue because there have been several occasions where passengers holding tickets with reserved seats did not make it onto their train in stations packed with individuals traveling without a reserved seat, Shih told reporters in a joint interview in Taipei. Non-reserved seats allow travelers maximum flexibility, but it has led to issues relating to quality of service and safety concerns, especially during
A magnitude 5.1 earthquake struck Chiayi County at 4:37pm today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. The hypocenter was 36.3km southeast of Chiayi County Hall at a depth of 10.4km, CWA data showed. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The intensity of the quake, which gauges the actual effect of a seismic event, measured 4 in Chiayi County, Tainan and Kaohsiung on Taiwan's seven-tier intensity scale, the data showed. The quake had an intensity of 3 in Chiayi City and Yunlin County, while it was measured as 2 in Pingtung, Taitung, Hualien, Changhua, Nantou and Penghu counties, the data