The government intends to speed up privatization of its state-run businesses and aims to complete privatization of at least seven state-run enterprises by the end of 2004.
"The government not only will speed up the pace of privatization, but will also first upgrade the competitiveness of these businesses by improving their performance," Vice Premier Lin Hsin-yi (林信義) said yesterday at a meeting of the national asset management committee.
Through the privatization process, the government hopes to raise NT$617.2 billion over the next five years, according to a preliminary study by the Council for Economic Planning and Development.
According to the government's schedule, six state-own enterprises will complete privatization by the end of 2003. They are: Chinese Petroleum Corp (中油), Aerospace Industrial Development Corp (漢翔航空), China Shipbuilding Corp (中船), Taiwan Salt Industrial Corp (台鹽), Kaohsiung Ammonium Sulfate Co (高雄硫酸錏) and Taiwan Agricultural & Industrial Development Corp (台灣農工).
The privatization timetable of Taiwan Motor Transport Co (台汽客運), Taiwan's state-owned long-distance bus operator, has also been moved forward from the end of 2006 to some time in 2004, the committee said..
The Directorate General of Posts (郵政總局) is scheduled to be corporatized in 2003 and is expected to formulate a timetable for its privatization soon after incorporation.
Among the firms to be privatized, Chinese Petroleum Corp plans to release 44.69 percent of the shares to local and foreign investors and 24 percent to the company's employees. However, the government will retain at least 34 percent of the shares because of the importance of petroleum.
Lu Chi-cheng (呂桔誠), vice chairman of the Commission of National Corporations disclosed that the company has looked at forming strategic partnerships with multi-national enterprises which can provide stable oil sources for the company.
However, a local news report said that Chinese Petroleum's privatization may be slowed down by opposition from its employees as many middle-aged workers are worried that they may not keep their jobs after the transition and protested to their lawmakers asking them to stop the privatization.
The report also noted a difficulty for the privatization of Aerospace Industrial Development because the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the US and the crash of a China Airlines jet earlier this year has affected the confidence of some potential investors.
China Shipbuilding Corp (中船) has a better outlook for its privatization after targeting a profit of NT$70 million in 2003 after laying off 2,280 of its 5,025 employees and restructuring its organization. The company plans to build frigates for the navy in collaboration with other foreign frigate makers.
Kaohsiung Ammonium Sulfate Co (高雄硫酸錏) has decided to liquidate its assets while Taiwan Agricultural & Industrial Development Corp (台灣農工) will sell some of its assets to proceed with the privatization.
NATIONAL SECURITY: The Chinese influencer shared multiple videos on social media in which she claimed Taiwan is a part of China and supported its annexation Freedom of speech does not allow comments by Chinese residents in Taiwan that compromise national security or social stability, the nation’s top officials said yesterday, after the National Immigration Agency (NIA) revoked the residency permit of a Chinese influencer who published videos advocating China annexing Taiwan by force. Taiwan welcomes all foreigners to settle here and make families so long as they “love the land and people of Taiwan,” Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) told lawmakers during a plenary session at the Legislative Yuan in Taipei. The public power of the government must be asserted when necessary and the Ministry of
CROSSED A LINE: While entertainers working in China have made pro-China statements before, this time it seriously affected the nation’s security and interests, a source said The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) late on Saturday night condemned the comments of Taiwanese entertainers who reposted Chinese statements denigrating Taiwan’s sovereignty. The nation’s cross-strait affairs authority issued the statement after several Taiwanese entertainers, including Patty Hou (侯佩岑), Ouyang Nana (歐陽娜娜) and Michelle Chen (陳妍希), on Friday and Saturday shared on their respective Sina Weibo (微博) accounts a post by state broadcaster China Central Television. The post showed an image of a map of Taiwan along with the five stars of the Chinese flag, and the message: “Taiwan is never a country. It never was and never will be.” The post followed remarks
Proposed amendments would forbid the use of all personal electronic devices during school hours in high schools and below, starting from the next school year in August, the Ministry of Education said on Monday. The Regulations on the Use of Mobile Devices at Educational Facilities up to High Schools (高級中等以下學校校園行動載具使用原則) state that mobile devices — defined as mobile phones, laptops, tablets, smartwatches or other wearables — should be turned off at school. The changes would stipulate that use of such devices during class is forbidden, and the devices should be handed to a teacher or the school for safekeeping. The amendments also say
CONSISTENT COMMITMENT: The American Institute in Taiwan director said that the US would expand investment and trade relationships to make both nations more prosperous The US would not abandon its commitment to Taiwan, and would make Taiwan safer, stronger and more prosperous, American Institute in Taiwan Director Raymond Greene said. “The US’ commitment to Taiwan has been consistent over many administrations and over many years, and we will not abandon our commitment to Taiwan, including our opposition to any attempt to use force or coercion to change Taiwan’s status,” he said in an exclusive interview with the Liberty Times (the sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) on Friday last week, which was published in the Chinese-language newspaper yesterday. The US would double down on its efforts