SOUTH KOREA
Mitsubishi to pay ex-slaves
A court ruled yesterday that Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries should pay compensation to former wartime slave workers. The district court in the southern city of Gwangju ruled Mitsubishi Heavy Industries should pay 120 million won (US$106,700) in compensation to Kim Young-ok, 85, and 3.25 million won to a relative of the late Choe Jeong-rye, activists said. It is the second such ruling in four years. The victims, both in their teens, worked without pay at a Mitsubishi aircraft manufacturing plant in Nagoya in 1944.
GERMANY
Trade surplus grows
The nation’s trade surplus grew in June, official figures showed yesterday, while saber-rattling continues in Washington and Brussels over possible US protectionist moves. Europe’s largest economy exported 21.2 billion euros (US$25 billion) worth of goods more than it imported in June, the federal statistics authority, Destatis, calculated in figures adjusted for seasonal and calendar effects. In absolute terms, the amount of goods sold abroad amounted to 104.9 billion euros in June, a drop of 2.8 percent from the figure for May, while the total amount of goods bought from abroad totaled 83.7 billion euros, down 4.5 percent on the month. Germany increased both its imports and its exports to the EU in June, but while its imports to the rest of the world grew strongly, exports shrank slightly.
JAPAN
Current account in surplus
The nation recorded a 36th consecutive current account surplus in June, supported by returns on overseas investments and a trade balance that returned to positive territory. The current account surplus was ¥934.6 billion (US$8.44 billion), versus an estimate of ¥860.5 billion. The primary income surplus was ¥507.2 billion. The surplus in goods trade was ¥518.5 billion, compared with an estimate of ¥571.5 billion. The return of a trade surplus after a deficit in May supported the current account. The benefits from Japan’s overseas investments, shown as the primary income surplus, anchored the account, but Japanese companies paying dividends overseas in June did somewhat reduce the primary income surplus during the month. Yesterday’s data add to evidence that Japan’s economy is in a good position as the recovery continues, JPMorgan Chase & Co senior economist senior economist Masamichi Adachi said.
AUTOMAKERS
China vehicle sales rise
China’s passenger-vehicle sales rose for a third consecutive month last month, with General Motors Co and Nissan Motor Co selling more automobiles as the impact of higher sales tax waned. Retail sales of cars, SUVs and multipurpose vehicles climbed 5.5 percent to 1.7 million units last month, the China Passenger Car Association said in a statement yesterday. Deliveries rose 0.6 percent to 12.5 million units in the first seven months this year, according to the association. Chinese consumers brought forward car purchases after the government announced it would raise the levy on small-engine cars to 7.5 percent from 5 percent from the start of this year, rolling back a tax cut instituted in 2015. That weighed on demand in the first half, when auto sales dropped for the first time in at least 13 years. The impact started to fade out and is partly offset by discounts automakers and car dealers are offering.
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