TAIPEI (TAIWAN) – Taiwan authorities on Monday gave Alibaba Group Holding Ltd’s domestic ecommerce site Taobao an ultimatum of six months to re-register as a Chinese entity or leave. This comes as the government’s latest shot against Chinese companies.
Amid mounting political tension, Taiwan has stepped up scrutiny of Chinese investment and operations of Chinese tech companies on the island.
Taiwan said last week it was planning to stop local sales of Chinese internet television streaming services.
Taiwan Economics Ministry’s investment commission said Taobao Taiwan was operated by a UK firm named Claddagh Venture Investment, which was in effect controlled by Alibaba.
The commission also expressed fears of security breach as user data is sent to China, adding that Taobao Taiwan had been fined T$410,000 ($13,960.77) and had six months to either withdraw its investment, or re-register.
“We do not consider the company as foreign investment,” commission spokesman Su Chi-Yun said. “They will have to decide whether to disinvest or rectify their investment.”
(Photos syndicated via Reuters)
This story has been edited by BH staff and is published from a syndicated field.