■ Automobiles
Nissan expands China stake
Nissan Motor Co, the last of Japan's three biggest automakers to enter China, may expand production capacity at its Chinese venture with Dongfeng Motor Corp if demand beats the companies' expectations. A decision on whether to expand the Dongfeng Motor Co venture will be made in the next two years, the venture's president Katsumi Nakamura said in a Bloomberg television interview. Capacity may be increased if it looks as if demand will exceed 5.5 million units in 2007, he said. Nissan's truckmaking affiliate Nissan Diesel Motor Co may make as many as 100,000 mid-size to heavy trucks together with Dongfeng by 2008, Nakamura said. The companies may also make as many as 2,000 buses a year by 2007.
■ Tourism
China extends tax breaks
China is extending tax breaks for travel-related businesses until the end of the year in an effort to cut back on the lingering impact of SARS on tourism, state media and tourism authorities said yesterday. The number of foreign tourists visiting China is still much lower than in recent years, although domestic and outbound tourism has basically recovered from the downturn in travel due to SARS, which was declared under control in June. For that reason, tax breaks for airlines, travel agencies and other tourism-related businesses which had been set to expire at the end of September have been extended until the end of the year, the China National Tourism Administration said in a notice posted on its Web site. The decision by the Finance Ministry and the State Administration of Taxation was approved by the State Council, China's Cabinet, it said.
■ Labor
Executives to lose jobs
A recovery in the global technology sector is underway with investments set to grow 4 percent to 5 percent to US$2.1 trillion next year, but many executive jobs could be lost, research house Gartner said yesterday. "We now see true recovery in the making," Gartner's regional vice president said. "The combination of business transformation with key technology advances, architectural changes, market forces and best practices will lead to a strong recovery for IT in the near future," he said. Gartner said companies will set aside bigger budgets next year for technology upgrading in a bid to strengthen their businesses and raise productivity. But the projected recovery in the technology sector is expected to result in widespread job losses, possibly numbering in the hundreds of thousands.
■ Macroeconomics
Work needed worldwide
The global economy is not growing fast enough to provide jobs for millions of people who want them, according to a study released Tuesday by the Conference Board, a private business research group. World economic growth rates have slowed sharply since the 1960s, with growth rates falling not just in the US but also in Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Africa, the survey found. Only East Asia and South Asia recorded stronger growth during the past decade than in the 1960s. "It is startling to think that what was viewed as the boom times of the 1990s was actually the slowest-growing decade in the world economy in the past 40 years," said Gail Fosler, chief economist of the group and author of the analysis.
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