Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) lawmakers yesterday made public what they said was new evidence to help prosecutors investigate the world's No. 2 custom chipmaker, United Mocroelectronics Corp (UMC,
Producing copies of what were described as internal confidential memos from He Jian, TSU caucus whip Lo Chih-ming (羅志明) said that high-level Taiwanese officials at He Jian were told by their superiors that they could allow their Taiwanese employees to get access to UMC's database during business hours via a particular IP address.
"That's why 199 of UMC's patented items are used by He Jian, and we're afraid that the improper behavior has jeopardized the rights of UMC shareholders and has contributed to the fall of its shares," Lo said.
The probes of UMC's investments in China weighed heavily on UMC's share price Wednesday. The company's shares fell nearly 1 percent to NT$20.8 on the Taiwan Stock Exchange and plunged to NT$19.9 yesterday.
Acting on tip-offs, over 100 Hsinchu and Taipei prosecutors Tuesday raided nine offices and residences relating to the case, including UMC's offices, and the residences of UMC vice chairman John Hsuan (
Lo also lambasted the government's economic strategy of "active opening and effective management" for investments in China.
"The policy has become the biggest lie ever," Lo said. "We're asking prosecutors to thoroughly investigate whether He Jian executive Hsu Chien-hwa (徐建華), a former UMC employee, was attempting to empty out Taiwan's technological resources and channel them to China."
Another TSU lawmaker, Huang Shih-cho (
"We thought the government has been doing a poor job in executing the `effective management' policy," he said.
In addition to calling on the government, national security authorities and prosecutors to thoroughly investigate the case as well as the entire high-tech industry, Huang requested that the government mete out punishment to civil servants failing to fulfill their duties in carrying out the "effective management" strategy.
Lo also requested the government map out foreign investment guidelines for the high-tech industry to follow, and pledged to enact a law to protect high-tech knowhow.
The Executive Yuan sent a draft national technology protection law (國家科技保護法) to the legislature for review in February 2003, but the bill has been bogged down in legislative procedures. Opposition lawmakers, who control the legislature, called the bill "technological martial law."
Branding prosecutors' large-scale raid as "inappropriate," Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Ker Chien-ming (
"I'd like to believe that UMC and He Jian are simply two friendly companies striving to cooperate with each other in a highly competitive industry and to take the lead in the Chinese market," he said.
Earlier yesterday morning, Ker used a stronger and more controversial tone to describe the raid as "confiscating the property and exterminating the family."
Ker also called on the public to trust the judicial system and stop politicizing the matter. Some commentators have said that the raid on UMC occurred because of Hsuan's criticism of the DPP government.
People First Party (PFP) caucus whip Liu Wen-hsiung (
"Such a selective justice is not genuine justice," he said.
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
CHANGE OF MIND: The Chinese crew at first showed a willingness to cooperate, but later regretted that when the ship arrived at the port and refused to enter Togolese Republic-registered Chinese freighter Hong Tai (宏泰號) and its crew have been detained on suspicion of deliberately damaging a submarine cable connecting Taiwan proper and Penghu County, the Coast Guard Administration said in a statement yesterday. The case would be subject to a “national security-level investigation” by the Tainan District Prosecutors’ Office, it added. The administration said that it had been monitoring the ship since 7:10pm on Saturday when it appeared to be loitering in waters about 6 nautical miles (11km) northwest of Tainan’s Chiang Chun Fishing Port, adding that the ship’s location was about 0.5 nautical miles north of the No.
SECURITY: The purpose for giving Hong Kong and Macau residents more lenient paths to permanent residency no longer applies due to China’s policies, a source said The government is considering removing an optional path to citizenship for residents from Hong Kong and Macau, and lengthening the terms for permanent residence eligibility, a source said yesterday. In a bid to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from infiltrating Taiwan through immigration from Hong Kong and Macau, the government could amend immigration laws for residents of the territories who currently receive preferential treatment, an official familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity said. The move was part of “national security-related legislative reform,” they added. Under the amendments, arrivals from the Chinese territories would have to reside in Taiwan for
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