Minister faces ire over Chinese firm’s stake in oil field
By Angelica Oung / Staff reporter
CPC Corp, Taiwan’s (CPC, 台灣中油) sale of a 35 percent interest in its Chad oil field to a Chinese company sparked harsh questioning of Minister of Economic Affairs Wang Mei-hua (王美花) in the Legislative Yuan on Monday.
The arrival early this month of the first barrels of oil from the Oryx Oilfield in Chad was celebrated in Taiwan, but lawmakers soon became alarmed when they learned that CPC in 2016 sold half of its 70 percent stake to China CEFC Energy Co (華信能源).
Last week, the ministry submitted a classified report on the share sale, but Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Yang Chiung-ying (楊瓊瓔) said it did not address core concerns about who authorized the sale of such a large stake to a Chinese company.