■WTO
Zoellick meets with Chinese
US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick opened meetings yesterday with Chinese trade officials in an effort to further prise open the market for American farmers, 14 months after Beijing joined the WTO. Facilitating China's accession to the WTO had been a priority in the first year of President George W. Bush's administration, Zoellick said in a statement ahead of the Feb. 17 to Feb. 20 visit. The US trade chief said China had made important progress in reforming its economy but he had concerns that in some areas, particularly agriculture, Americans were not getting the access China promised and which the WTO mandates. According to the Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, the Chinese side will hold consultations with Zoellick over bilateral and multilateral trade issues, the official Xinhua news agency said.
■ Credit Rating
Australia raised to AAA
Australia's foreign currency credit rating was raised to AAA from AA+ by Standard & Poor's, which cited the country's string of budget surpluses and falling foreign debt. The outlook on the credit rating is "stable," S&P said. The currency rose after the announcement. Australia's Liberal-National coalition government has delivered four budget surpluses in five from fiscal 1996 to fiscal 2001. The upgrade comes almost four years after S&P last raised Australia's foreign-rating currency, and puts S&P on the same level as Moody's Investors Services, which raised the rating in October, 2002. Australia's has had a AAA local-currency rating from S&P since July 1992, according to Bloomberg data. "It's a reason to support the Australian dollar in the short-term," said Chris Loong, Sydney-based manager of foreign exchange hedging at AMP Henderson Global Investors, which has about US$155 billion under investment.
■ Chip Equipment
Global sales up 14 percent
Worldwide sales of chipmaking equipment rose in December, the fourth straight gain after 18 months of declines, an industry group said. The rise may signal a recovery in global chip demand is under way. Chip equipment sales rose 13.9 percent in December from the same month a year earlier to US$1.82 billion, the Semiconductor Equipment Association of Japan said. Demand for equipment is rebounding as chipmakers such as Samsung Electronics Co expand production capacity. Samsung, the world's No. 1 maker of memory chips, will surpass Intel Corp as the biggest buyer of chip equipment this year, based on their spending forecasts for this year. Global chip sales will probably increase 12 percent this year to about US$174 billion after gaining 1.4 percent last year, according to market researcher Dataquest Inc.
■ Internet
Agere make traffic chip
Agere Systems Inc, the unprofitable semiconductor maker spun off from Lucent Technologies Inc, said it developed the fastest chip to direct information across computer networks and the Internet. Agere's US$295 APP540, one-fourth the size of a credit card, performs the functions of two or three chips from competitors, uses less power and is cheaper, said Rob Munoz, Agere's product marketing manager. KT Corp, South Korea's largest telephone company, plans to build a new nationwide network based on equipment that runs on the APP540 chips, Munoz said.
Agencies
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)
EYE ON STRAIT: The US spending bill ‘doubles security cooperation funding for Taiwan,’ while also seeking to counter the influence of China US President Joe Biden on Saturday signed into law a US$1.2 trillion spending package that includes US$300 million in foreign military financing to Taiwan, as well as funding for Taipei-Washington cooperative projects. The US Congress early on Saturday overwhelmingly passed the Further Consolidated Appropriations Act 2024 to avoid a partial shutdown and fund the government through September for a fiscal year that began six months ago. Under the package, the Defense Appropriations Act would provide a US$27 billion increase from the previous fiscal year to fund “critical national defense efforts, including countering the PRC [People’s Republic of China],” according to a summary