■Tarriffs
Japan angers Australians
The Australian Cattle Council will substitute the Japanese flag's rising sun with a piece of beef in an advertising campaign to protest increased Japanese tariffs on Australian beef, an official said yesterday. The Japanese government confirmed to Australian Prime Minister John Howard last week that it would lift its tariff on the import of Australian beef from 38.5 percent to 50 percent on August 1. The Australian Cattle Council says the increase will cost Australian producers around A$80 million (US$53.12 million) in an industry worth A$1.5 billion dollars a year. The adver-tising campaign will feature a white sushi plate with a medallion of Australian beef in the center, in a mock-up of the Japanese flag. The advertisement reads: "Why does Japan put a 50 percent tariff on our beef? Because it's the best in the world."
■ Pakistan
Firms to generate power
Pakistan will allow private businesses to generate their own electricity without seeking permission from the government, which will help factories reduce production costs, a minister said. The lower production cost "will make our goods competitive in the international market, increasing our exports," Commerce Minister Huma-yun Akhtar told a news conference in Islamabad. Presently, businesses have to obtain government clearance to set up a power generation unit. In a trade policy announced over the weekend, Pakistan set an export target of US$12.1 billion for the fiscal year started July 1, or 9.7 percent higher than US$11.03 billion the previous year. The trade deficit may fall to US$700 million.
■ Software
Microsoft pushes TV guide
Microsoft Corp, which is trying to unseat Gemstar-TV Guide International Inc in the market for television programming-guide soft-ware, said Comcast Corp and Time Warner Cable Inc will try its software. Com-cast and AOL Time Warner Inc's Time Warner Cable, the No. 1 and 2 US cable-TV companies, both use Gem-star's software to deliver TV programming guides to cable customers, said Ed Graczyk, Microsoft TV marketing director. Micro-soft hopes the trials will lead them to purchase the software, he said. Microsoft last year decided to revamp its ailing TV-software busi-ness by entering the market for programming guides, which is dominated by Gemstar. So far, Microsoft's product has only two US customers, two small Oregon cable companies. Microsoft is determined to stay in the TV-software market, despite several years of failed products, analysts said.
■ Automobiles
Volkswagen cuts Brazil jobs
Volkswagen plans to cut 4,000 jobs in Brazil due to weak car sales in the first half of the year, The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. The German carmaker will slash nearly 16 percent of 24,800 Brazilian jobs because of overcapacity at its five Brazilian factories following an 8 percent drop in car sales from January to last month. But Volkswagen, which last year held 26 percent of the Brazilian automobile market, with some 382,000 auto sales, said it plans to transfer many of the affected workers to a new firm it is creating in Brazil, called "Autovisao Brasil." Brazil has seen negative economic growth for two successive quarters, according to official figures, technically putting it in a recession.
Agencies
NO-LIMITS PARTNERSHIP: ‘The bottom line’ is that if the US were to have a conflict with China or Russia it would likely open up a second front with the other, a US senator said Beijing and Moscow could cooperate in a conflict over Taiwan, the top US intelligence chief told the US Senate this week. “We see China and Russia, for the first time, exercising together in relation to Taiwan and recognizing that this is a place where China definitely wants Russia to be working with them, and we see no reason why they wouldn’t,” US Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines told a US Senate Committee on Armed Services hearing on Thursday. US Senator Mike Rounds asked Haines about such a potential scenario. He also asked US Defense Intelligence Agency Director Lieutenant General Jeffrey Kruse
INSPIRING: Taiwan has been a model in the Asia-Pacific region with its democratic transition, free and fair elections and open society, the vice president-elect said Taiwan can play a leadership role in the Asia-Pacific region, vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴) told a forum in Taipei yesterday, highlighting the nation’s resilience in the face of geopolitical challenges. “Not only can Taiwan help, but Taiwan can lead ... not only can Taiwan play a leadership role, but Taiwan’s leadership is important to the world,” Hsiao told the annual forum hosted by the Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation think tank. Hsiao thanked Taiwan’s international friends for their long-term support, citing the example of US President Joe Biden last month signing into law a bill to provide aid to Taiwan,
China’s intrusive and territorial claims in the Indo-Pacific region are “illegal, coercive, aggressive and deceptive,” new US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo said on Friday, adding that he would continue working with allies and partners to keep the area free and open. Paparo made the remarks at a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam in Hawaii, where he took over the command from Admiral John Aquilino. “Our world faces a complex problem set in the troubling actions of the People’s Republic of China [PRC] and its rapid buildup of forces. We must be ready to answer the PRC’s increasingly intrusive and
STATE OF THE NATION: The legislature should invite the president to deliver an address every year, the TPP said, adding that Lai should also have to answer legislators’ questions The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) yesterday proposed inviting president-elect William Lai (賴清德) to make a historic first state of the nation address at the legislature following his inauguration on May 20. Lai is expected to face many domestic and international challenges, and should clarify his intended policies with the public’s representatives, KMT caucus secretary-general Hung Meng-kai (洪孟楷) said when making the proposal at a meeting of the legislature’s Procedure Committee. The committee voted to add the item to the agenda for Friday, along with another similar proposal put forward by the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The invitation is in line with Article 15-2