Press release; DigiTimes.com,Taipei [Friday 17 December 2004]
The Association of Taiwan Journalists (ATJ) today launched a drive to collect 10,000 signatures in support of Commercial Times reporter Joyce (Wen-chi) Kuang. The reporter has been sued by Hon Hai Precision Industry’s Chairman Terry T. M. Gou because of his displeasure with her report “Intel’s new platform to benefit Hon Hai,” published on April 29, 2004. Gou has effectively frozen Kuang’s assets of approximately NT$30 million with a bond of NT$10 million (about US$309,000) placed with the Taipei local court.
The ATJ raised its concerns with Hon Hai on November 30 and demanded that the company retract the injunction against Kuang by December 15. Kuang’s case has already dropped a bombshell in the media industry and both business and academic circles. It is generally viewed as a dangerous precedent in the relations between the press and businesses, when businesses use their financial muscle to control and threaten the press.
Gou, as the “richest man in Taiwan,” has great influence, but he has ignored public opinion and all the calls by academics not to harm the freedom of the press. He has also ignored journalist associations requesting he not impinge their right to work.
As of the evening of December 15, Hon Hai had not responded in either verbal or written form to the calls for a lifting of the provisional seizure of Kuang’s assets. In consequence, the ATJ has condemned Hon Hai’s despicable effort to impinge on the freedom of the press, its abuse of its considerable financial might, its haughty and domineering attitude, its selection of individual reporters for persecution and its attempt to control the press. The ATJ will actively team up with journalist groups worldwide to conduct a series of global protest actions.
The ATJ, after internal discussion and consultation with international affiliates, will take three actions:
1. Taiwan media: A signature drive, entitled “Don’t think the next little shrimp won’t be you?!,” will be launched within media, academic and cultural circles in protest of Hon Hai’s abuse of its financial muscle to impinge on the freedom of press. After the signatures are collected, an appropriate time will be selected to stage a protest in front of Hon Hai’s headquarters. Signature forms can be downloaded from the ATJ website.
2. Foreign media: As a member of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), the ATJ will seek help from the global association and its members. Terry Gou’s use of his financial muscle to single out an individual reporter in an out-of-proportion legal battle is expected to significantly hurt Taiwan’s press and image of democracy, and will certainly raise eyebrows in the international media community. The ATJ has formally requested that the IFJ kick off a global protest campaign, and has already received support from Japan’s Shinbun Roren. Beginning today, the ATJ will team up with press groups in various countries to send protest letters to some of Hon Hai’s major OEM customers, including Dell, Sony, Nokia and Hewlett-Packard (HP). The letters will remind these international companies of the need to carefully choose “OEM partners,” and ask them not to place orders with businesses that ignore human rights and impinge on press freedom.
3. According to Forbes 2003 statistics, Terry Gou’s wealth amounted to US$2.8 billion, topping the list of richest man in Taiwan. Hon Hai has a team of more than 400 people handling legal affairs. With his wealth and legal support, Gou, nevertheless, has displayed his displeasure with the media in an improper manner. He has chosen to exert pressure by depositing NT$10 million in the court, and succeeded in freezing the reporter’s assets for the past seven months. This action has created tremendous stress and caused significant inconvenience for the reporter in her daily life. It may also threaten reporters into exercising self-censorship when reporting news about Hon Hai in the future. The ATJ has already received many complaints from its members about Hon Hai having exercised such control on the press for a long time. The ATJ will reveal details of additional cases at a later date.
The ATJ thinks that business development and press freedom have been two major stabilizing factors in Taiwan’s economic development. They have developed in a mutually monitoring and encouraging relationship. Hon Hai is Taiwan’s largest manufacturing business and the company is not just responsible to its shareholders. Any of its actions will attract international attention. It should come under the media and society’s supervision. When businesses have complaints about media reports, they can communicate then with the media establishments running the reports, or even sue them. However, Hon Hai has spared the newspaper’s management, directly causing the provisional seizure against an individual reporter on a selective basis. The action is out of proportion, and a violation of social justice. It has generated criticism that it is a case pitching “a big whale against a small shrimp.”
ATJ has no intention to interfere with Hon Hai’s operations, but in this case Terry Gou should not have applied a tactic often seen to be used against business competitors. The ATJ strongly urges Hon Hai to retract the provisional seizure of Kuang’s assets as soon as possible, to engage in rational dialogue and to return the media its “freedom from fear” when reporting business news.
About Foxconn Electronics (Hon Hai)
Foxconn Electronics (the registered trade name of Hon Hai Precision Industry) was established in 1974 to produce plastic products. Apart from being Taiwan’s largest manufacturer of connectors, Foxconn is also a leading contract manufacturer of a range of system products, including desktop PCs, servers and mobile phones. It is one of the few Taiwan manufacturers to have a truly global manufacturing base, with multiple sites in America, Western and Eastern Europe and Greater China.
Foxconn’s monthly revenues exceed its closest competitor in the IT industry – notebook maker Quanta Computer – by over 10% and are around three times greater than Taiwan’s best-known IT brand Acer.
Company CEO Terry T. M. Gou (sometimes spelt Kuo or Guo) was ranked by Forbes as the 176th richest person in the world, with a net worth of US$2.8 billion, in February 2004. Of the 10 residents of Taiwan included in the ranking, Kuo was ranked second, behind Tsai Wan Lin & family (former head of Cathay Financial Holdings, dies September 27, 2004) and level with YC Wang (Formosa Plastics).
