nt, clarified yesterday that he did not provide any assistance to China while he sold two of his old fishing vessels to a fishing company in Shanghai. Among other business operations, Koo runs a fishing company with many ocean-bound fishing ships.
He explained the transaction was a pure commercial decision without any ideological slant.
Koo was criticized by a leader of the overseas Taiwanese business community in the Marshall Islands in the Pacific for not only selling his fishing ships to China but also playing a key role to help his Chinese buyer to buy a tuna cannery there.
Independence activists led by Koo have been escalating pressure on the government of President Chen Shui-bian to curtail any business or investment activities with Chinese interests.
Koo has maintained close ties with the president, although he voluntarily relinquished his position as a senior presidential adviser to protest certain government policies that failed to stem business interaction with China.
Responding to the charges that he has been aiding Chinese by "selling out Taiwan," Koo said that he did sell his ships to Chinese.
But he denied playing the role of a matchmaker to help guide Chinese capital to purchase the tuna can factory in the Marshall Islands.
He held a press conference to criticize the officials at the Council of Agriculture's Fisheries Agency (FA) for stalling the issuing of fishing licenses for his two new foreign-flagged ships.
He said the FA officials have done nothing after his company submitted the applications six months ago.
There was speculation that Koo has been using his relations with the president to pressure the FA to comply with his demand.
FA officials said they temporarily held up the application mainly because the regional tuna fishing organization in the South Pacific refused to grant new licenses under the existing quota system adopted to avoid overfishing of marine resources.
They also explained that any fishing firms that plan to build new fishing vessels are required to get prior approval from the regional fishery organization.
Nations violating the rules will be barred from fishing in the designated areas.
Koo's company already broke the agreement and regulations, they said.
Koo said he is appealing the case with the Executive Yuan (Cabinet).
He will seek government compensation if the Cabinet rejects his petition, Koo added.
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