■Crude oil \nVenezuela may start exports \n \nCrude oil fell from a 23-month high in its biggest decline in almost a week after Venezuela state oil company President Ali Rodriguez said exports will return to normal next month. Rodriguez, head of Petroleos de Venezuela SA, said he expects most oil workers in the country will be on the job by mid-January and exports will return to normal next month, the New York Times reported, without saying why the strikers would return to work. Crude oil for February delivery fell as much as US$0.55, or 1.7 percent, to US$31.42 a barrel in after-hours electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. That was the biggest drop since Dec. 20. It traded at US$31.53 at 11:18am Singapore time. An analyst and a Venezuela union leader said Venezuela oil exports are unlikely to return to normal next month because the country's 40,000 oil workers haven't agreed to end the four-week long strike called by opponents to President Hugo Chavez. \n■ Semiconductor \nHynix lenders to meet \n \nLenders will meet Dec. 30 to vote on a third bailout for the world's third-largest computer memory chipmaker, aimed at keeping Hynix Semiconductor in business, Internet news provider Edaily said, citing an unidentified creditor official. Creditors will also decide on whether to write down 95 percent of Hynix's stock, the report said. The lenders will meet at 2pm at Korea Exchange Bank, the company's leading creditor. Deutsche Bank AG, which was commissioned by creditors to propose alternatives for recovering more than US$5 billion of loans from Hynix, proposed swapping 1.9 trillion won of debt for new shares and delaying payment on 3 trillion won to 2006 from 2003-2004, Korea Exchange Bank said. \nAgencies
SCHEDULE: The delegation is due to meet with President Tsai Ing-wen this morning and witness the signing of an MOU on bilateral health cooperation in the afternoon US Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Alex Azar yesterday arrived in Taipei aboard a US government plane at the head of a delegation that is the highest-level visit by a US official since Washington switched diplomatic recognition to China in 1979. Azar’s flight landed at Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) at 4:48pm, nearly one hour earlier than scheduled, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. The apron where it landed is reserved for military aircraft, the Songshan Air Force Base Command said. The members of Azar’s delegation included HHS Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response Robert Kadlec, HHS Chief of Staff Brian
CHINESE FIGHTERS: Beijing marked the US Cabinet member’s visit by briefly sending two warplanes across the median line of the Taiwan Strait yesterday morning President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday met with US Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar in the highest-level official meeting between the two nations since 1979. “It is a true honor to be here to convey a message of strong support and friendship from [US] President [Donald] Trump to Taiwan,” Azar said during the open portion of his courtesy call to the Presidential Office, which was streamed live online before Tsai and Azar held a closed-door meeting. “Taiwan’s response to COVID-19 has been among the most successful in the world, and that is a tribute to the open, transparent,
‘CROSS-STRAIT CONSIDERATIONS’: Groups said that the Ministry of Education’s policies excluded Chinese and students should not be blocked over political issues The Taiwan International Student Movement yesterday said it would protest today outside the Ministry of Education in Taipei against a policy that excludes some Chinese students from returning to Taiwan amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Since June 17, the ministry has allowed foreign students from 19 “low risk” and “medium-low risk” countries and regions to enter Taiwan. On July 22, it announced that it was relaxing restrictions to include students from all countries and regions who are graduating this semester and on Wednesday it further expanded entry to students enrolled in degree programs. A letter sent by the ministry on Wednesday to universities did
PARTNERSHIP AND LEARNING: A Princeton University health policy researcher said that the nation would be a ‘treasure trove’ of information for the US health chief US Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar on Friday said he wants to learn about Taiwan’s “incredibly effective” response to COVID-19, even though the nation did things that the US has fumbled, such as having a unified strategy and citizens willing to wear masks. Azar leads a US delegation arriving today for a three-day visit to Taiwan. They are to meet with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and health system leaders, and Azar is to give a speech to public health graduates. “The message of this trip is about Taiwan,” Azar said in an interview, deflecting a question about China.
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