A Taiwanese businessman investing in China was shocked when he found that a 50 million yuan (US$8 million) loan he applied for from the China Construction Bank (CCB) more than a year ago actually went into a unrelated business in China and was used as collateral for another 90 million yuan loan.
The 73-year-old Chen Hsi-so (陳細鎖) said that on the recommendation of a friend, he opened a lime absorbent plant in Wuping District, Longyan, in China’s Fujian Province last year, and applied for a 50 million yuan loan from CCB’s branch in Wuping.
Chen said that it was his first investment project in Fujian, as he had previously only made investments in Zhejiang and Anhui provinces since he started doing business in China in 1989.
Although Chen was told that his loan was approved not long after he sent the application, he never heard back from the bank again, Chen said.
In July, Chen applied for a loan of 17 million yuan from Shanghai-based SPB Bank, and when he made another loan application in August, he was told by SPB Bank that his plant in Wuping had been used by CCB as collateral for a 90 million yuan loan made to a real-estate developer in Xiamen in Fujian Province, for more than a year.
Chen said he was shocked upon hearing the news and immediately contacted CCB.
However, the bank told him it had been “only a small mistake in inserting company code” and the bank’s management even went as far as threatening Chen by saying that if he made a big deal out of it, “your business will not run smoothly here.”
“It’s not a big deal [for us] to borrow documents from your Taiwanese businesses, you lose nothing,” it said.
Chen said he did not believe it had been a small mistake, since he had applied for a substantial loan and the decision to approve it was not in the hands of the CCB’s branch in Wuping.
Only the provincial level of the bank’s management could have made the decision, the businessman said.
Chen said he believed his name was “borrowed” in a series of banking irregularities.
He said the Fujian Provincial Government had promised to do him many favors, including giving him a contract for a 30-year supply of minerals, but none of the promises have been fulfilled so far.
Because he encountered financial difficulties and his Japanese business partner withdrew, Chen has had to suspend operations at his plant. He says that the losses have cost him dearly.
Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China when traveling in countries with close ties to Beijing, Taiwan Association of University Professors deputy chairman Chen Li-fu (陳俐甫) said on Friday. Chen’s comments came after China on Friday last week announced new judicial guidelines targeting Taiwanese independence advocates. Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and Djibouti are among the countries where Taiwanese could risk being extradited to China, he said. The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) on Thursday elevated the travel alert for China, Hong Kong and Macau to “orange” after Beijing announced its guidelines to “severely punish Taiwanese independence diehards for splitting the country and inciting secession.” Extradition treaties
Taiwan and Thailand have signed an agreement to promote and protect bilateral investment and trade, the Executive Yuan’s Office of Trade Negotiations (OTN) said on Friday. The agreement on “Promotion and Protection of Investments” was signed by Representative to Thailand Chang Chun-fu (張俊福) and Thailand Trade and Economic Office in Taipei executive director Narong Boonsatheanwong on Thursday, the OTN said in a news release. Thailand has become the fifth trading partner to sign an investment agreement with Taiwan since 2016, following earlier agreements with the Philippines, India, Vietnam and Canada, the OTN said. The deal marks a significant milestone in the development of
The entire Alishan Forest Railway line is to reopen for the first time in 15 years on Saturday, with tickets to go on sale at 2pm today. The historic railway from Chiayi to Alishan (阿里山) is finally set to reopen after the completion of the final No. 42 tunnel, Alishan Forest Railway and Cultural Heritage Office Deputy Director-General Chou Heng-kai (周恆凱) said. It is to run on a new timetable, with four trains daily, he said. The 9am train is to depart from Chiayi Railway Station bound for Shizilu Station (十字路), while the 10am train departing from Chiayi is to go all the
CROSS-BORDER CRIME: The suspects cannot be charged with cybercrime in Indonesia as their targets were in Malaysia, an Indonesian immigration director said Indonesian immigration authorities have detained 103 Taiwanese after a raid at a villa on Bali, officials said yesterday. They were accused of misusing their visas and residence permits, and are suspected of possible cybercrimes, Safar Muhammad Godam, director of immigration supervision and enforcement at the Indonesian Ministry of Law and Human Rights told reporters at a news conference. “The 103 foreign nationals stayed at the villa and conducted suspicious activities, which we suspect are activities related to cybercrime activities,” he said, presenting laptops and routers at the news conference. Godam said Indonesian authorities cannot charge them with conducting cybercrime. “During the inspection, we