In a hearing at the Taipei district court yesterday, the Eurotrain consortium -- which lost out to a Japanese group over the construction of Taiwan's high-speed railway line -- played tough to convince the court that the Taiwan High Speed Rail Corporation (THSRC) breached a binding agreement signed in 1997.
The EU group also wanted an injunction preventing the planned exchange of contracts with Japan's Shinkansen consortium.
At the same time, there was a high-profile meeting yesterday at the Taipei office of THSRC chairperson Nita Ing (
They expressed hopes the THSRC's final choice of partners would still be the European consortium.
Furious at being sidelined by the Taiwan-Shinkansen consortium of Japan, Eurotrain -- a joint venture of France's Alstom and Germany's Siemens AG -- has filed a request at the Taipei district court for a temporary injunction on ongoing negotiations between the THSRC and the Shinkansen, which began in mid-January this year.
The court set the hearing yesterday to clarify the legal relationships between THSRC and Eurotrain. Upon clarification it will determine whether the court will order the injunction.
Wang Chia-hui (
He said a decision was expected soon, as injunctions of this kind were often needed urgently.
Wang also said there was an obvious gap between the two parties' stories over their previous legal relationship.
If granted, the injunction is expected to block a deal worth over NT$90 billion between THSRC and the Japanese consortium.
But equally, if the petition is granted, then Eurotrain must also pay up to one third of the sum in dispute, as a deposit to ensure it will compensate THSRC for any damages it may suffer by the granting of the injunction.
Despite lengthy negotiations with Eurotrain, the THSRC awarded priority negotiating rights to the Japanese group on Dec. 28 last year.
Eurotrain, which has been vying for the high-speed rail project since 1997, has since protested to the THSRC over the switch and accused the company of breaking a 1997 agreement, which obliged THSRC to sign a contract with the European group if its price was considered reasonable.
However, THSRC, which was formally established as a consortium in May 1998, denied the 1997 agreement was binding as it was signed by Eurotrain and five main shareholders of the company, not the consortium itself.
Siemens AG chairman Heinrich von Pierer met with President Lee Teng-hui (
After a meeting with Minister of Transportation and Communication Lin Fong-cheng (
Ing, appearing little affected by the meeting, later said THSRC's final choice of the core system would be made on an evaluation based on business perspectives.
"THSRC is a private sector company and therefore the decision has to be made in the interests of its shareholders, as well as the public. Business is business," Ing said.
Meanwhile, THSRC announced yesterday it is to sign a contract with a consortium of local banks on Feb. 2 for a NT$323.3 billion syndicated loan.
As eight basketball-playing international students appealed to the Taiwanese basketball industry after they were excluded from the draft of an upcoming new league merging the P.League+ and the T1 League, the new league’s preparatory committee spokesperson Chang Shu-jen (張樹人) yesterday said the committee would tomorrow discuss the supplementary measures and whether the international students can join the draft. The students on Tuesday called for support on their right to play in the upcoming new league, after a merger involving the two leagues impacted their eligibility for the draft. The international players from the University Basketball Association (UBA), led by first pick prospect
WARNING: China has stepped up harassment of foreign vessels after its new regulation took effect last month, an official said, citing an incident in the Diaoyutai Islands The Coast Guard Administration (CGA) yesterday linked China’s seizure of a Taiwanese fishing vessel illegally operating in its territorial waters to Beijing’s new regulation authorizing the China Coast Guard to seize boats in waters it claims. Chinese officials boarded and then seized a Taiwanese fishing vessel operating near China’s coast close to Kinmen County late on Tuesday and took it to a Chinese port, the CGA said. The Penghu-registered squid fishing vessel Da Jin Man No. 88 (大進滿88) was boarded and seized by China Coast Guard east-northeast of Liaoluo Bay (料羅灣), 17.5 nautical miles (32.4km) from Taiwan’s restricted waters off Kinmen,
Some foreign companies are considering moving Taiwanese employees out of China after Beijing said it could impose the death penalty on “die-hard” Taiwanese independence advocates, four people familiar with the matter said. The new guidelines have caused some Taiwanese expatriates and foreign multinationals operating in China to scramble to assess their legal risks and exposure, said the people, who include a lawyer and two executives with direct knowledge of the discussions. “Several companies have come to us to assess the risks to their personnel,” said the lawyer, James Zimmerman, a Beijing-based partner at the Perkins Coie law firm. He declined to identify
BOLSTERING DEFENSE: The explosive is 40 percent more powerful than those in use and could be deployed for Hsiung Feng II and III missiles, a government source said The Chungshan Institute of Science and Technology has developed a polycyclic nitroamine explosive, commonly known as CL-20, which is the most powerful non-nuclear explosive known, a government source said yesterday on condition of anonymity. The institute has significantly improved explosive and rocket propellant research and development in recent years, the source said. A new factory was established in June 2022 with NT$540 million (US$16.6 million) in equipment installed, the source said. A central complex that would house 50-gallon (189 liters) and 300-gallon (1,136 liters) explosive mixer machines, as well as a storage device, was constructed in the factory, the institute said. The explosive is