■Electronics
AAFES to buy Chinese TVs
The US military will buy 45,000 high-definition televisions from Xiamen Overseas Chinese Electronics Co, one of China's biggest appliance makers, China's state-owned Xinhua News Agency said, citing the Xiamen Daily newspaper. The Army and Air Force Exchange Service, a purchasing agency, will take delivery now of 5,000 of the sets, capable of delivering sharper pictures than conventional TVs, Xinhua said. Xiamen Overseas will deliver the balance within a year. The report didn't give a value for the contract. Chinese appliance makers including Xiamen Overseas, Sichuan Changhong Electric Co and Konka Group Co may be assessed anti-dumping tariffs by the US after the US International Trade Commission ruled on Tuesday that cheap Chinese and Malaysian sets are hurting American producers.
■ Policy
Mercosur pledges effort
South American leaders agreed Wednesday to keep working toward greater regional integration by strengthening their countries' political and economic ties through the Mercosur trade bloc. The presidents of the Mercosur trading nations issued a communique at the end of a two-day summit here and expressed support for the group, whose members have been battered by economic crises over the last year. The leaders voiced their commitment to "the strengthening of Mercosur, with the aim of sustainable development of its member countries and their competitive insertion into the global economy." Mercosur members Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay held their biannual meeting at a riverside resort in the Paraguayan capital. Chile and Bolivia are associate members and Venezuela's president Hugo Chavez attended as a guest.
■ Computers
Microsoft defends actions
Microsoft Corp and the Bush administration defended their antitrust settlement, and the world's largest software maker urged a US appeals court to reject Massachusetts's call for tighter restrictions on its business practices. Micro-soft, which negotiated the settlement after the appeals court ruled the company illegally protected its Windows monopoly, said the agreement was approved by a trial judge who "considered but rejected" more restrictions. "The relief that Massachusetts seeks is so extreme that its own economist would not support several key aspects of it," Microsoft said in a brief filed with the appeals court in Washington. The settlement requires Microsoft to give computer makers freedom to promote rival software on personal computers powered by the Windows operating system. Windows runs 95 percent of the world's PCs.
■ Airlines
NZ warns air carriers
New Zealand's consumer watchdog, the Commerce Commission, has warned airlines to stop hiding extra charges that can add up to 44 percent to the price of cheap advertised fares, a news-paper reported yesterday. It said burying extra charges such as levies, taxes and insurance in the small print of advertise-ments misrepresented the price of fares, The New Zealand Herald said. Director of fair trading Deborah Battell said the commission was concerned about inadequate disclosure in advertisements. "When businesses are advertising, they should be advertising the price people have to pay," she said.
Agencies
PROVOCATIVE: Chinese Deputy Ambassador to the UN Sun Lei accused Japan of sending military vessels to deliberately provoke tensions in the Taiwan Strait China denounced remarks by Japan and the EU about the South China Sea at a UN Security Council meeting on Monday, and accused Tokyo of provocative behavior in the Taiwan Strait and planning military expansion. Ayano Kunimitsu, a Japanese vice foreign minister, told the Council meeting on maritime security that Tokyo was seriously concerned about the situation in the East China and South China seas, and reiterated Japan’s opposition to any attempt to change the “status quo” by force, and obstruction of freedom of navigation and overflight. Stavros Lambrinidis, head of the EU delegation to the UN, also highlighted South China Sea
The final batch of 28 M1A2T Abrams tanks purchased from the US arrived at Taipei Port last night and were transported to the Armor Training Command in Hsinchu County’s Hukou Township (湖口), completing the military’s multi-year procurement of 108 of the tanks. Starting at 12:10am today, reporters observed more than a dozen civilian flatbed trailers departing from Taipei Port, each carrying an M1A2T tank covered with black waterproof tarps. Escorted by military vehicles, the convoy traveled via the West Coast Expressway to the Armor Training Command, with police implementing traffic control. The army operates about 1,000 tanks, including CM-11 Brave Tiger
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), the world’s largest contract chipmaker, said it expects its 2-nanometer (2nm) chip capacity to grow at a compound annual rate of 70 percent from this year to 2028. The projection comes as five fabs begin volume production of 2-nanometer chips this year — two in Hsinchu and three in Kaohsiung — TSMC senior vice president and deputy cochief operating officer Cliff Hou (侯永清) said at the company’s annual technology symposium in Silicon Valley, California, last week. Output in the first year of 2-nanometer production, which began in the fourth quarter of last year, is expected to
Taiwan’s drone exports surged past US$100 million in the first quarter, exceeding last year’s full-year total, with the Czech Republic emerging as the largest buyer, the Ministry of Economic Affairs said. Exports of complete drones reached US$115.85 million in the period, about 1.2 times the total recorded for all of last year, the ministry said in a report. Exports to the Czech Republic accounted for about US$100 million, far outpacing other markets. Poland, last year’s top destination, recorded about US$11.75 million in the first quarter. Taiwan’s drone exports have expanded rapidly in the past few years, with last year’s total
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