Taiwan Delays Douglas Talks

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwan’s parliament has postponed for one week a crucial meeting on whether to buy a $2-billion stake in the U.S. aircraft maker McDonnell Douglas Corp., officials reported Tuesday.

Officials said the meeting, originally scheduled for today, was rescheduled for April 29 to allow parliament’s Economic Committee to finish screening economic development requests in a $43.44-billion national budget for the 1993 fiscal year beginning in July.

Economic Minister Vincent Siew and executives of Taiwan Aerospace, a company in which the government owns a 29% stake, will announce at the parliamentary meeting whether Taiwan Aerospace should buy up to 40% of McDonnell Douglas’ commercial aircraft operations.

The deal is subject to approval by both the U.S. and Taiwanese governments.

Opposition legislators have opposed the deal, saying Taiwan should not buy shares in a commercial aircraft maker with financial troubles.

The transport aircraft division of McDonnell Douglas reported operating earnings of $200 million last year, contrasted with operating losses of $177 million in 1990 and $167 million in 1989.

In the United States, critics worry that the sale could mean the transfer of technology to Taiwan and create a powerful threat to another American aircraft manufacturer, Boeing Co.

Taiwan Aerospace signed an agreement last November to acquire the McDonnell Douglas shares. Under the deal, Taiwan Aerospace would build wings and fuselages for McDonnell Douglas’ MD-12, a new wide-body passenger plane.

The deal was considered vital for McDonnell Douglas and its ability to develop the new plane.