State-run Taiwan Sugar Corp's (Taisugar,
"Taisugar lost over NT$2 billion last year. Were there not revenues of NT$3.9 billion from selling real estate, there would have been a deficit of some NT$6 billion," Wu said yesterday at the DPP's central headquarters while confirming his resignation as the ruling party's secretary-general.
Facing an uphill battle, Wu added that he would do his best to thoroughly review the company's finances and brainstorm new managerial concepts to improve its profitability.
Taisugar President Tung Ruey-pin (
At the meeting, KMT legislator Huang The-fu (
Citing the fact that many of the company's investment decisions are mandated by the cenral government, Tung added that 90 percent of Taisugar's land was sold to comply with government construction projects.
"Only 5 or 6 percent of our land sales were initiated by Taisugar," Tung said.
While blaming the government's sugar-industry policy as the main culprit behind the company's losses, Tung also said that Taisugar is closing down six local plants this year and planning to build sugar-making plants in Vietnam or Australia to reduce costs and improve its efficiency to compete with post-WTO foreign sugar imports.
The task force, moreover, yesterday probed the firms' injection of capital into several investment projects, which opposition lawmakers said were based not on economics but "political correctness."
They questioned whether profits would be generated from Taisugar's NT$5 billion re-investment in the Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp (THSRC,
Independent lawmaker Sisy Chen (
Singling out THSRC, which is a build-operate-transfer (BOT) project, Chen said that "in fact, the government should not have granted any funds to the project, let alone funds from loss-making Taisugar."
In response, the banker-turned-Taisugar president Tung, who took office last Wednesday, said that Taisugar's investments have all undergone feasibility studies and that the investment in the THSRC was finalized in 1990.
He offered his own assessment, however, saying that the railway investment -- either by granting funds or selling land -- should offer a reasonable return, since Taisugar-owned land adjacent to the train stations that will be valuable in future development projects.
The task force, nevertheless, yesterday decided to shelve Taisugar's budget review until the company's financial difficulties improve.
GAINING STEAM: The scheme initially failed to gather much attention, with only 188 cards issued in its first year, but gained popularity amid the COVID-19 pandemic Applications for the Employment Gold Card have increased in the past few years, with the card having been issued to a total of 13,191 people from 101 countries since its introduction in 2018, the National Development Council (NDC) said yesterday. Those who have received the card have included celebrities, such as former NBA star Dwight Howard and Australian-South Korean cheerleader Dahye Lee, the NDC said. The four-in-one Employment Gold Card combines a work permit, resident visa, Alien Resident Certificate (ARC) and re-entry permit. It was first introduced in February 2018 through the Act Governing Recruitment and Employment of Foreign Professionals (外國專業人才延攬及雇用法),
WARNING: From Jan. 1 last year to the end of last month, 89 Taiwanese have gone missing or been detained in China, the MAC said, urging people to carefully consider travel to China Lax enforcement had made virtually moot regulations banning civil servants from making unauthorized visits to China, the Control Yuan said yesterday. Several agencies allowed personnel to travel to China after they submitted explanations for the trip written using artificial intelligence or provided no reason at all, the Control Yuan said in a statement, following an investigation headed by Control Yuan member Lin Wen-cheng (林文程). The probe identified 318 civil servants who traveled to China without permission in the past 10 years, but the true number could be close to 1,000, the Control Yuan said. The public employees investigated were not engaged in national
The zero emissions ship Porrima P111 was launched yesterday in Kaohsiung, showcasing the nation’s advancement in green technology, city Mayor Chen Chi-mai (陳其邁) said. The nation last year acquired the Swiss-owned vessel, formerly known as Turanor PlanetSolar, in a bid to boost Taiwan’s technology sector, as well as ecotourism in Palau, Chen said at the ship’s launch ceremony at Singda Harbor. Palauan President Surangel Whipps Jr and Minister of Foreign Affairs Lin Chia-lung (林佳龍) also attended the event. The original vessel was the first solar-powered ship to circumnavigate the globe in a voyage from 2010 to 2012. Taiwan-based Porrima Inc (保利馬) installed upgrades with
ENHANCE DETERRENCE: Taiwan has to display ‘fierce resolve’ to defend itself for China to understand that the costs of war outweigh potential gains, Koo said Taiwan’s armed forces must reach a high level of combat readiness by 2027 to effectively deter a potential Chinese invasion, Minister of National Defense Wellington Koo (顧立雄) said in an interview with the Chinese-language Liberty Times (sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) published yesterday. His comments came three days after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the US Senate that deterring a Chinese attack on Taiwan requires making a conflict “cost more than what it’s worth.” Rubio made the remarks in response to a question about US policy on Taiwan’s defense from Republican Senator John Cornyn, who said that Chinese
RSS