A report that a Taiwanese-financed factory based in China was looted by a local mob revealed the importance of China signing an agreement with Taiwan to protect China-based Taiwanese businesses, a Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) official said yesterday.
"Our chairman, Joseph Wu (
A report yesterday suggested that a mob had looted a China-based factory invested in by Taiwanese manufacturer B. B. Battery Co (
According to the report, a group of protesters gathered at the factory to protest what they claimed was damage to local fishermen's livelihood caused by waste water discharged by the Taiwanese battery maker into surrounding waters.
Due to the local government's reluctance to take protective action, the company has suffered a loss of dozens of million of yuan, and has been forced to close down its operations temporarily, the report said.
An unnamed member of Guangdong's Taiwan Merchant Association (TMA) was quoted as saying that the B. B. Battery Co had been besieged by several thous-ands of unruly local villagers claiming that the company has caused water pollution jeopardizing local aquatic industries.
The anonymous TMA member quoted the B. B. Battery Co's CEO, identified only by his surname Su, as saying that the company's waste water met the local authorities' requirements, and the company should not be falsely accused of being the source of sea-water pollution. Su demanded that the mob or the local government provide evidence to back up their claims.
Su promised to stop the company's operation at the time when the incident occurred and accepted an immediate investigation by the government. But that did not pacify the local villagers. Since these villagers were not able to show any concrete evidence, Taiwanese businesspeople cannot help but suspect that the whole incident was manipulated by other organizations.
There were reportedly very few police deployed at the scene of the incident, and they were unable to restrain the angry mob. Su, at the scene, sensed that the riot might get worse, and he quickly sought help from the deputy secretary and mayor of the Chaozhou City government to send for a stronger force of armed police to control the situation and end the villagers' threatening behavior.
Despite Su's request for help, the government offered no response, which caused the already severe situation to become even more critical. Thousands of people lead by youngsters entered the company, looting goods to an estimated value of at least 10 million yuan (US$1.2 million), which has forced the B. B. Battery Co to close down temporarily.
It is reported that the Taiwan Merchant Association in Guangzhou has made an emergency report to Guangdong's Taiwan Affairs Office Chief Gan Zhaosheng (甘兆勝) and Beijing-based Sound of Taiwan magazine (台聲雜誌) to make the incident known to government officials all over China. Su is expected to fly to Beijing soon to deal with the issue.
B. B. Battery Co was founded seven to eight years ago in China by a businessman of a renowned food corporation in Southern Taiwan. This China-based battery corporation occupies hundreds of hectares and has seven thousand to eight thousand employees.
Though B. B. Battery Co has made a profit in recent years, it has since 1999 been included in the waste-water pollution list by the Guangdong government and has been frequently inspected. The company increased its capital to more than US$9 million last year, but is now facing a huge loss because of this incident.
also see story:
DPP whip condemns Chinese over looting of Taiwanese-owned factory
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
SHIFT: Taiwan’s better-than-expected first-quarter GDP and signs of weakness in the US have driven global capital back to emerging markets, the central bank head said The central bank yesterday blamed market speculation for the steep rise in the local currency, and urged exporters and financial institutions to stay calm and stop panic sell-offs to avoid hurting their own profitability. The nation’s top monetary policymaker said that it would step in, if necessary, to maintain order and stability in the foreign exchange market. The remarks came as the NT dollar yesterday closed up NT$0.919 to NT$30.145 against the US dollar in Taipei trading, after rising as high as NT$29.59 in intraday trading. The local currency has surged 5.85 percent against the greenback over the past two sessions, central
RSS