Not much has happened of late in the world of business news that could be considered amusing. Yesterday, however, the bizarre and the grimly comical combined in the story of Taiwanese travel agency ezTravel, whose president had just “discovered” that his company had been taken over by Chinese online travel agency Ctrip.com after the latter acquired a majority of shares through a coalition of investors after years of gradual acquisition.
“While we were aware that Ctrip had been buying our shares in bulk, we did not know the magnitude of Ctrip’s actual holdings until Wednesday,” ezTravel president Jack Yu (游金章) told the Central News Agency on Thursday.
It beggars belief that a company president would not be aware of the component holdings of his company, let alone be taken by surprise by a foreign takeover. Of genuine concern — and worthy of investigation — is the possibility that Yu and his aides deliberately deprived their shareholders of the details of the “actual holdings” — particularly individuals and groups masking their affiliation to Ctrip.com.
This takeover offers a sobering precedent in the ongoing tango between Chinese and Taiwanese investors and the dangers that result from a lack of transparency and accountability on the Taiwanese bourse.
It is a charade that offers real ammunition to the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and other voices that are demanding the administration of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) exercise greater caution in formulating cross-strait economic policy.
But before caution, there must be a semblance of competence.
Yesterday, Premier Liu Chao-shiuan (劉兆玄) gave an example of just how incompetent Ma’s economic dream team can be. Speaking to Dow Jones Newswires on Thursday, Liu said that the government would consider including the Chinese currency in Taiwan’s foreign exchange (forex) reserves.
The main problem was not that Liu appeared ignorant of the convertibility limitations of the yuan (though that is problem enough), nor that subsequent merging of economic and political risk factors might make this a process fraught with uncertainty.
The main problem, instead, was that Liu spoke on the matter without due care or teamwork, disorientating his staff and sending commentators into a flurry of speculation on whether he was testing the waters or simply proving that chemistry professors-turned-premiers need better economics briefings.
It was especially embarrassing for the government to see the central bank forced to issue a rejoinder on the matter, playing down any hint that the bank was involved in negotiations to include the yuan in its forex reserve line-up.
The impression Liu leaves is one of a government in which ideology and political banalities trump sound, carefully considered policy initiatives that meet the needs of the real world.
Liu has been premier long enough: He ought to know when to sidestep questions from journalists looking to nail the next big policy development. But if he wishes to open up a new topic for consideration in the politics of practical rapprochement, he is going to have to spend a lot more time crafting strategy and learning how to deliver it.
The alternative is leaving Taiwanese vulnerable to people and companies, local and foreign, who know how to exploit incompetent policy and policymakers.
Taiwan’s fall would be “a disaster for American interests,” US President Donald Trump’s nominee for undersecretary of defense for policy Elbridge Colby said at his Senate confirmation hearing on Tuesday last week, as he warned of the “dramatic deterioration of military balance” in the western Pacific. The Republic of China (Taiwan) is indeed facing a unique and acute threat from the Chinese Communist Party’s rising military adventurism, which is why Taiwan has been bolstering its defenses. As US Senator Tom Cotton rightly pointed out in the same hearing, “[although] Taiwan’s defense spending is still inadequate ... [it] has been trending upwards
Small and medium enterprises make up the backbone of Taiwan’s economy, yet large corporations such as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) play a crucial role in shaping its industrial structure, economic development and global standing. The company reported a record net profit of NT$374.68 billion (US$11.41 billion) for the fourth quarter last year, a 57 percent year-on-year increase, with revenue reaching NT$868.46 billion, a 39 percent increase. Taiwan’s GDP last year was about NT$24.62 trillion, according to the Directorate-General of Budget, Accounting and Statistics, meaning TSMC’s quarterly revenue alone accounted for about 3.5 percent of Taiwan’s GDP last year, with the company’s
There is nothing the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) could do to stop the tsunami-like mass recall campaign. KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) reportedly said the party does not exclude the option of conditionally proposing a no-confidence vote against the premier, which the party later denied. Did an “actuary” like Chu finally come around to thinking it should get tough with the ruling party? The KMT says the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is leading a minority government with only a 40 percent share of the vote. It has said that the DPP is out of touch with the electorate, has proposed a bloated
In an eloquently written piece published on Sunday, French-Taiwanese education and policy consultant Ninon Godefroy presents an interesting take on the Taiwanese character, as viewed from the eyes of an — at least partial — outsider. She muses that the non-assuming and quiet efficiency of a particularly Taiwanese approach to life and work is behind the global success stories of two very different Taiwanese institutions: Din Tai Fung and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC). Godefroy said that it is this “humble” approach that endears the nation to visitors, over and above any big ticket attractions that other countries may have