Taiwan has 38 billionaires — seven of them new entrants — appearing on this year’s Forbes Billionaires List, published on Monday.
Want Want Group chairman Tsai Eng-meng (蔡衍明) is once again the wealthiest person in the nation, with an estimated worth of US$8.9 billion.
Tsai’s wealth was said to be down from US$9.5 billion a year ago as a result of slower economic growth across the Taiwan Strait.
On the overall, global list, Tsai was ranked 147th.
Forbes said Apple Inc supplier Hon Hai Precision Industry Co chairman Terry Gou (郭台銘) moved up to the No. 2 ranking on the domestic list following the death last year of Fubon Group chairman Tsai Wan-tsai (蔡萬才).
Tsai’s sons, Daniel (蔡明忠) and Richard (蔡明興), were on the list for the first time, with an estimated worth of US$3 billion each.
The other newcomers were art and electronics tycoon Pierre Chen (陳泰銘), at US$2 billion; optics producer Scott Lin (林耀英) at US$1.5 billion; optics producer Tony Chen (陳世卿) at US$1.2 billion; auto parts magnate Chin Jong-hwa (秦榮華) at US$1 billion; and financier Thomas Wu (吳東亮) at US$1 billion.
“Taiwan’s list is dotted with returnee tech suppliers, including Richard Chang (張汝京) of semiconductor packaging house Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc and Bruce Cheng (鄭崇華), whose Delta Electronics Inc is also an Apple supplier,” Forbes writer Russell Flannery said.
“Want Want China honed its production and sales skills in its home Taiwan’s Chinese-style snack food market before expanding into the mainland’s in the 1980s. After years of success, it hit a bump last year, and warned last month that profit may have fallen in 2014,” Flannery said in an online comment.
However, Flannery said that was not enough to bump Tsai Eng-meng from the No. 1 spot in Taiwan.
“Want Want is still potent competition for rivals that include the likes of Coke, Pepsi and Unilever in the still-growing China market,” Forbes said.
DEFENSE: The National Security Bureau promised to expand communication and intelligence cooperation with global partners and enhance its strategic analytical skills China has not only increased military exercises and “gray zone” tactics against Taiwan this year, but also continues to recruit military personnel for espionage, the National Security Bureau (NSB) said yesterday in a report to the Legislative Yuan. The bureau submitted the report ahead of NSB Director-General Tsai Ming-yen’s (蔡明彥) appearance before the Foreign and National Defense Committee today. Last year, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) conducted “Joint Sword-2024A and B” military exercises targeting Taiwan and carried out 40 combat readiness patrols, the bureau said. In addition, Chinese military aircraft entered Taiwan’s airspace 3,070 times last year, up about
The Overseas Community Affairs Council (OCAC) yesterday announced a fundraising campaign to support survivors of the magnitude 7.7 earthquake that struck Myanmar on March 28, with two prayer events scheduled in Taipei and Taichung later this week. “While initial rescue operations have concluded [in Myanmar], many survivors are now facing increasingly difficult living conditions,” OCAC Minister Hsu Chia-ching (徐佳青) told a news conference in Taipei. The fundraising campaign, which runs through May 31, is focused on supporting the reconstruction of damaged overseas compatriot schools, assisting students from Myanmar in Taiwan, and providing essential items, such as drinking water, food and medical supplies,
A magnitude 4.3 earthquake struck eastern Taiwan's Hualien County at 8:31am today, according to the Central Weather Administration (CWA). The epicenter of the temblor was located in Hualien County, about 70.3 kilometers south southwest of Hualien County Hall, at a depth of 23.2km, according to the administration. There were no immediate reports of damage resulting from the quake. The earthquake's intensity, which gauges the actual effect of a temblor, was highest in Taitung County, where it measured 3 on Taiwan's 7-tier intensity scale. The quake also measured an intensity of 2 in Hualien and Nantou counties, the CWA said.
New Party Deputy Secretary-General You Chih-pin (游智彬) this morning went to the National Immigration Agency (NIA) to “turn himself in” after being notified that he had failed to provide proof of having renounced his Chinese household registration. He was one of more than 10,000 naturalized Taiwanese citizens from China who were informed by the NIA that their Taiwanese citizenship might be revoked if they fail to provide the proof in three months, people familiar with the matter said. You said he has proof that he had renounced his Chinese household registration and demanded the NIA provide proof that he still had Chinese