Residents may face charges
The Industrial Development Bureau (IDB) is considering pressing charges against residents of Kaohsiung County’s Taliao Township (大寮鄉) for the alleged assault of Hsu Ming-lun (許明倫), a senior IDB official in the Industrial Sustainable Development Department, an IDB official, who declined to be named, said yesterday.
The bureau is reviewing videotapes shot by members of the press to determine if there is any evidence which can be used to file a credible complaint, the official said.
The comments came after Minister of Economic Affairs Yiin Chii-ming (尹啟銘) told reporters yesterday morning that the bureau would not tolerate violence and would press charges if necessary.
On Sunday, a group of Taliao residents surrounded a wastewater treatment plant inside Kaohsiung County’s Tafa Industrial Complex (大發工業區) and clashed with plant workers and Hsu. The official suffered a concussion as a result.
CNOOC to boost production
China’s largest listed offshore oil and gas producer, CNOOC Ltd, yesterday said it would boost production by up to 18 percent this year, driven by new output from wells in Nigeria and Indonesia.
The firm is aiming for production of 225 million to 231 million barrels of oil equivalent this year, up from 194 million to 196 million last year, it said in a statement.
CNOOC said it also planned to increase capital expenditure by 19 percent to US$6.76 billion, despite lower oil prices. The aggressive moves come as many international players are stalling projects.
Apple sells second-hand goods
US tech giant Apple said on Monday it had started selling discounted second-hand products in China to court more customers.
The used products, offered on Apple’s Chinese online store, include iPod shuffle music players at 308 yuan (US$45) each and iMac personal computers priced at 14,000 yuan.
Apple, whose products are more expensive than its PC rivals, is struggling to gain a foothold in China.
Last year its iPod line had a 4.3 percent share of China’s portable media player market, Beijing-based consultant CCID Consulting said.
The used products, which have a one-year limited warranty, were returned to Apple by customers and went through strict quality tests before being put on the shelves again, a statement on the Web site said.
Asia currencies set to devalue
Asian central banks will pursue competitive devaluation of their currencies in the first half of the year and cut interest rates to buffer the impact of a global economic slump, Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC said.
The US dollar’s rise against other major currencies in the second half of the year as benchmark policy rates of developed economies converge will also exert pressure on Asian currencies, wrote Chia Woon Khien, a Singapore-based interest rate strategist at the bank in a note yesterday.
Investors should sell the New Taiwan dollar, the Malaysian ringgit and the Singapore dollar, she wrote.
“Competitive devaluation will be more of a policy choice rather than a market-driven event given Asia’s relatively stronger economies compared to a decade ago,” she said.
NT dollar loses ground
The New Taiwan dollar lost ground against the US dollar on the Taipei Foreign Exchange yesterday, declining NT$0.104 to close at NT$33.639.
A total of US$1.15 billion changed hands during the day’s trading.
Stephen Garrett, a 27-year-old graduate student, always thought he would study in China, but first the country’s restrictive COVID-19 policies made it nearly impossible and now he has other concerns. The cost is one deterrent, but Garrett is more worried about restrictions on academic freedom and the personal risk of being stranded in China. He is not alone. Only about 700 American students are studying at Chinese universities, down from a peak of nearly 25,000 a decade ago, while there are nearly 300,000 Chinese students at US schools. Some young Americans are discouraged from investing their time in China by what they see
Taiwan Transport and Storage Corp (TTS, 台灣通運倉儲) yesterday unveiled its first electric tractor unit — manufactured by Volvo Trucks — in a ceremony in Taipei, and said the unit would soon be used to transport cement produced by Taiwan Cement Corp (TCC, 台灣水泥). Both TTS and TCC belong to TCC International Holdings Ltd (台泥國際集團). With the electric tractor unit, the Taipei-based cement firm would become the first in Taiwan to use electric vehicles to transport construction materials. TTS chairman Koo Kung-yi (辜公怡), Volvo Trucks vice president of sales and marketing Johan Selven, TCC president Roman Cheng (程耀輝) and Taikoo Motors Group
MAJOR DROP: CEO Tim Cook, who is visiting Hanoi, pledged the firm was committed to Vietnam after its smartphone shipments declined 9.6% annually in the first quarter Apple Inc yesterday said it would increase spending on suppliers in Vietnam, a key production hub, as CEO Tim Cook arrived in the country for a two-day visit. The iPhone maker announced the news in a statement on its Web site, but gave no details of how much it would spend or where the money would go. Cook is expected to meet programmers, content creators and students during his visit, online newspaper VnExpress reported. The visit comes as US President Joe Biden’s administration seeks to ramp up Vietnam’s role in the global tech supply chain to reduce the US’ dependence on China. Images on
New apartments in Taiwan’s major cities are getting smaller, while old apartments are increasingly occupied by older people, many of whom live alone, government data showed. The phenomenon has to do with sharpening unaffordable property prices and an aging population, property brokers said. Apartments with one bedroom that are two years old or older have gained a noticeable presence in the nation’s six special municipalities as well as Hsinchu county and city in the past five years, Evertrust Rehouse Co (永慶房產集團) found, citing data from the government’s real-price transaction platform. In Taipei, apartments with one bedroom accounted for 19 percent of deals last