■INVESTMENT
China bans may be eased
Minister of Economic Affairs Shih Yen-shiang (施顏祥) said the government would consider allowing Taiwanese liquid-crystal-display (LCD) panel makers to set up plants in China in the first quarter next year and relax restrictions on semiconductor investment there in the second quarter, the Chinese-language Apple Daily reported yesterday. Shih told the newspaper in an interview that companies in these two sectors would be allowed to invest in China as long as their investments in Taiwan remain higher than those in China and the technologies used in Chinese projects were less advanced than those in Taiwan. Shih also said the government would review its current ban on investments in naphtha crackers in China no sooner than the second quarter, pending how much progress is made in two domestic petrochemical projects.
■AVIATION
Passenger traffic down 3.1%
World airline passenger traffic fell 3.1 percent this year, the biggest drop in aviation industry history, fueled by the global financial downturn, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) said on Friday. Preliminary figures for airline travel this year showed that international traffic declined by about 3.9 percent and domestic traffic by 1.8 percent. The ICAO predicted a moderate recovery of 3.3 percent growth for the airline industry next year, in line with improving economic conditions around the world. For 2011, it forecast momentum to build to return to the traditional 5.5 percent yearly growth rate in airline passenger traffic.
■INVESTMENT
John Mack skips third bonus
Morgan Stanley’s top executive John Mack said on Friday he would forgo a bonus for this year in view of the “unprecedented environment” facing the financial industry. Mack, who is giving up the title of chief executive next month but will remain chairman, will skip a bonus for the third year in a row. In a letter to Morgan Stanley employees, a copy of which was obtained by reporters, Mack said he had recommended that the investment bank’s compensation committee give him no year-end bonus as the firm reviews overall policies. “We also are continuing to make changes this year in how we pay our people,” he said.
■AVIATION
Ryanair-Boeing talks over
Irish no-frills airline Ryanair said on Friday it had ended discussions with Boeing on buying 200 aircraft from the US plane maker after a breakdown in talks over pricing. Ryanair said in a statement that a planned deal to buy 200 new B737-800 series aircraft for delivery between 2013 and 2016 could not be reached. The airline said money set aside for the planes would be returned to shareholders, but was not clear as to whether this would be via increased dividend payments, the issuing of new shares or by other means.
■ECONOMY
US lending plan mulled
US President Barack Obama’s administration is setting aside US$30 billion from the financial bailout fund for a program designed to encourage lending to small businesses to aid the economic recovery. An internal document obtained by The Associated Press spells out how the Treasury Department plans to spend money from the fund before it expires in October. The document shows US$40 billion would go to consumer and business lending programs. Of that amount, US$30 billion would support lending to small companies, a Treasury official said.
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
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
US CONSCULTANT: The US Department of Commerce’s Ursula Burns is a rarely seen US government consultant to be put forward to sit on the board, nominated as an independent director Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, yesterday nominated 10 candidates for its new board of directors, including Ursula Burns from the US Department of Commerce. It is rare that TSMC has nominated a US government consultant to sit on its board. Burns was nominated as one of seven independent directors. She is vice chair of the department’s Advisory Council on Supply Chain Competitiveness. Burns is to stand for election at TSMC’s annual shareholders’ meeting on June 4 along with the rest of the candidates. TSMC chairman Mark Liu (劉德音) was not on the list after in December last