changed in line with the government policy to emphasize Taiwan identity. The CPC will be renamed as the Taiwan Chinese Petroleum Corp. and the CSBC as Taiwan International Shipbuilding Corp, said Economics Minister Chen Ruey-long.
The new names have been adopted in line with a directive President Chen Shui-bian issued in 2004 to avoid confusing the Taiwan companies with those from rival China.
Both companies' board of directors will meet next Friday to approve the new names, the economics minister said.
He said the Economics Ministry will discuss next week whether changes will also be made to other state-run businesses that also bear "China" in their names.
One of them would be China Airlines.
The pro-independence ruling Democratic Progressive Party has been eager to emphasize Taiwan as an autonomous political entity.
One of the other major changes has been the addition of the word "Taiwan" on the cover of the country's passport.
The economics minister said changing names of state-run businesses is a right direction favorable for the development of those businesses.
The Economics Ministry's assessments show that the CPC and CSBC will not have to make any adjustments to their international contracts despite the changed names, and the costs of the name changes will be minimal, the minister said.
The Central News Agency said the oil company will continue to use "CPC" as its English acronym, while the shipbuilding firm will continue to use "CSBC" in its company logo.
